


Helter Skelter

by FlightInSnow



Category: Original Work
Genre: Anal Sex, Angst, Blood Drinking, Blood Kink, Bondage, Chains, Dubious Consent, Enemas, Human/Vampire Relationship, Kidnapping, M/M, Mating Bites, Multi, Power Dynamics, Power Play, Unhealthy Relationships, Vampire Bites, Vampires, Witches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:46:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 9
Words: 27,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23384728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlightInSnow/pseuds/FlightInSnow
Summary: Lucas was never very good at keeping his nose out of other people's affairs. Once a young boy starts dancing at Lucas's studio he starts to notices the bruises and hesitance. Unable to keep out of the other man's business he inserts himself in a relationship that is far more complicated than just a jealous boyfriend. Vampires are not particularly fond with sharing their mates and Lucas had best use the ace up his sleeve lest he becomes the newest bloodless victim in the long line of dead bodies that have followed Nicolas from the day he was turned.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 31





	1. Nosy Business

-

Chapter One  
Nosy Business

\--

Lucas was of a curious nature. The phrase "Curiosity killed the cat." Was often accompanied with Lucas's nosiness. The natural snarky response on his behalf was of course the other half of that long-forgotten rhyme, "but satisfaction brought it back." This inquisitive and bold nature often got Lucas in trouble and it was the cause for his current predicament.

Nicolas Laurent had appeared at the popular dance studio a little over a month ago. In that month he had managed to make himself as isolated and unlikable as a snake in a hen house. The young boy was unquestionably gorgeous with oval face, pale complexion, long limbs and the soft petite facial features that really looked as though they should belong to a woman. His light auburn curls didn't do much for his masculinity either. 

He was a very good dancer, specialising in ballet which was not surprising given his delicate but strong frame. The young man clearly loved to dance but in the short time he had occupied the dance studio, he had not tried to befriend anyone. 

This would not usually have been something of any interest to Lucas if not for the extraordinary length Nicolas had gone through. At first the young boy had tried to avoid contact with everyone, something rather impossible in a dance studio that had a class size of thirty on a slow day. Whenever anyone did approach him he would announce as curt a response as any robot could offer.

If further contact was attempted then Nicolas would try feigning deafness. Still further pestering would then bring on the nastiness. Rude to the level not usually seen outside an adult's cartoon character, he snapped and hissed at anyone bold enough to dare ask him the time of day. This of course included Lucas. Lucas though, rather than recoiling like everyone else had wisely done, instead just beamed back as though Nicolas had done nothing but smile.

One might ask why bother with a young man who so obviously wanted no friends? Well it was only the end of the first week when Lucas truly wondered if that was the case. For all his spitting and cruelty Lucas had often seen the other's angelic face peering at the other dancers. It was not with avidity or envy that he watched but with what Lucas recognised as deep soul breaking sadness. That gaze had shocked Lucas that day. It was only ever shown when Nicolas was sure he was unseen.

But Lucas saw. 

He saw the raw pain and dejection in every elegant line of the other dancer and he thought to himself, "what on the earth could cause such a strangeness that was this creature?" Creature was an apt description because despite the human face and his appearance during four o'clock dance session in the day, Lucas was positive that Nicolas was a vampire.

Please allow some time for explanation.

Lucas was not all he appeared himself. He was human, make no mistake but Lucas had been born with very particular 'gifts'. Well. He called them gifts. His mother had called them uninvited magic's from the devil himself. She had an old fashion way of thinking and in her mind a witch was never welcome in a family. His mother, who had the same abilities, had made the depressing choice to squander her gifts and become a librarian. She refused to teach her son anything related to the world of magic.

It was a pity that this argument drove a wedge between mother and son for Lucas loved to walk on the wild side. He liked living dangerously and he loved using his abilities whenever he could. He often sort out that rush of adrenaline much to the horror of his law-abiding mother. He had often wondered if maybe she had just shown him how to control his abilities if he would have settled down.

Instead he had been a wild child. He caused mayhem wherever he went, often drinking too much and sleeping with more people then he could rightly remember the names of. Lucas didn't care though. He loved his life regardless of what anyone said about it. He was confidant, good looking and thick skinned and anyone who didn't like him could very well kiss his perfectly round toned ass.

Lucas hadn't been sure at first. Nicolas had appeared that first night for a ballet class. Lucas had watched him talk briefly with one of the instructors and then segregated himself to the back of the class. Once others started to realize the new guy was in fact stupidly good, people tried to find out more about him. In his rush to escape, Nicolas had shoulder bumped Lucas on the way out the side door.

That small touch caused a shock of magical energy. Both boys had given the other a startled look and Lucas looked again at the incredibly pale complexion. He looked at the boy's aura and had seen the unearthly white of someone who was undead. The myth about sunlight was only partly true after all. Vampires could stay in sunlight for a time, the older the vamp, the longer they could stay active during the day. Given that Nicolas often appeared late afternoon, Lucas guessed he was at least a hundred or so years old. Only baby vamps couldn't tolerate sunlight at all. He didn't think the other was much older because Nicolas didn't seem to recognise Lucas as a witch. He just blinked, shook his head, muttered something rude and dashed out the door.

Every week Lucas sidled up and said hello and like clockwork, Nicolas snarled at him to go away. He never did though, he always came back, much to his own amusement and Nicolas’s exasperation. It wasn’t until the second week when the young vampire turned up to class with a distinct limp that Lucas’s amusement turned more to concern.

“You okay Nicky?” Lucas asked, frowning. Nicolas gave him the stink eye.

“Yes. And don’t call me Nicky,” he snapped. The boy leant down to tie his pointe shoes. The movement cause his long sleeve black shirt to slide up. Even in the low light of the dance studio Lucas could see the vivid finger shaped bruises around his wrists.

“You sure?” Lucas murmured, dropping his voice. Nicolas stood up straight, yanking down his sleeves, face a little flushed.

“Fine. Just leave me alone,” Nicolas stayed even more distant if that could be possible, disappearing as soon as classes finished without a word. Lucas may have forgotten what he had seen if the boy had not returned to class a week later in a worse condition.

“Hey, careful,” Natasha, a thin blonde girl snapped as Nicolas nearly ran into her for the second time. It was strange to see him so clumsy, honestly Lucas had begun to think the young man uncapable of such a thing. Nicolas crept away to the locker room. Lucas followed stealthy.

“Hey,” he said. The young vamp yelped, small dark towel in one hand. Lucas glanced at it and was surprised to see something pale on one corner.

“Are you… are you wearing makeup?” Lucas asked. The boy refused to turn around, his shoulders hunched.

“No,” Nicolas spluttered. Lucas grabbed his arm and pulled him around.

“Jesus.” There was a very ugly bruise crested the side of the dancer left eye.

“It was an accident,” the other said quickly. Lucas reached out and grabbed the towel from the other.

“It bloody well wasn’t and you know it,” Lucas snapped. Nicolas hastily closed the door of the room, giving them a little privacy.

“You don’t understand,” Nicolas hissed.

“Why can’t you just leave me alone!?” He added, face scrunched in anger. Lucas snorted.

“I dare say I understand a tad more then you think. What does he do? Smack you around every time you come home smelling of someone else?” Nicolas went still, his mouth hanging open.

“I… How did you…?” Lucas shrugged.

“Like I said, I understand more then you think. Besides, I’m nosy and observant. Last time you came to class with bruises the day before you had danced with Rosie to practice for that scene in Don Quixote. She was pressed right up against you for the first half, much to your outward disgust. You really should apologies to her by the way, you were very unkind.” Nicolas had gone utterly pale. His eyes were wide in what Lucas understood as avid fear.

“And yesterday you danced with me. You also sat in my seat.” The little vampire’s jaw got impossibly lower.

“No, I did not!” he spluttered.

“Yes, you did. My chair had the blue jacket thrown over the back of it. You were so tired you didn’t even notice.” The class had gone for three hours and towards the end of it, Nicolas had flopped down in the nearest available seat. Comprehension seemed to dawn on the young man’s face.

“I didn’t realise. I couldn’t understand why he thought…” He trailed off again, looking all the more scared and lost. Lucas understood alright. Lucas wore that jacket when classes took a break. Being a dancer and being rather well off, he had often smoked with the girls on break times. The stereotype that dancers survived on a diet of black coffee and cigarettes was unfortunately true, at least in Lucas’s world. It was cold in winter and even sweaty, the always through his favourite jacket before going outside with them. It smelt strongly of his cologne and personal scent.

“He really doesn’t like you being here does he? That’s why you don’t like to be around other people. Because it makes him angry?” Lucas guessed. Nicolas was motionless for several more moments. He almost thought the other wouldn’t answer him.

“It’s complicated but… you’re not completely wrong,” he said softly.

“Why stay with him? If he’s hurting you…”

“I can’t just leave,” Nicolas said miserably. Lucas sat down on one of the benches and folded his arms across his chest. This was a pickle. In his, all be brief, experience, if a baby vampire was afraid it was generally because of a bigger, older, stronger vamp. Was Nicolas’s boyfriend also his maker? That would make sense but whilst the sire bond was strong, the fledgling could still leave after a hundred years or so.

“You can still leave. Even if you have been together for a long time. It doesn’t matter what the relationship used to be if he’s hurting you now,” Lucas explained. He felt a pang of sympathy when the dancers eye filled with tears.

“It’s my fault,” Nicolas blurted out. Lucas frowned.

“How so?”

“He never used to be like this. When we met, he was a perfect gentleman. He was polite and brave and wonderful and then we had a fight and I did something awful and he has never been the same since. It’s my fault.” A tear slid down the soft oval face, contrasting with the hideous half hidden bruise.

“Nothing you did in the past gives him the excuse to physically hurt you now. No! Listen to me,” he raised his voice when Nicolas went to protest.

“Even if you hurt him the answer to healing is never retaliation. That never helps and nor does escalation. Nothing you did gives him the excuse to put his hand on you or hurt you in anyway. Staying with him because you feel guilty is not healthy for you or him,” Lucas said firmly.

Silence.

He really wanted to put a hand out and offer some sort of comfort but he knew that was unwise.

“He would never let me leave. He would find me wherever I went eventually. It’s what he does,” Nicolas whispered. He was shaking a little. Lucas wondered vaguely if the other vamp’s day job was as a police officer or something. That would certainly make things more complicated.

“Does he work in law enforcement?” Lucas asked. The bark of bitter laughter that came out of Nicolas’s throat made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

“Law enforcement!? No. Nothing like that. Christ,” The boy said.

“Well that’s good at least,” Lucas said cheerfully.

"I can't believe this," Nicolas moaned, putting his head in his hands.

"What are you going to do?" Lucas asked. The other boy's head snapped up.

"Listen to me Lucas. You need to stay away from me. I will deal with him but you need to stay away. It will only make things worse," Nicolas insisted. Lucas snorted.

"As pretty as you are it's not as if I picked you up and fucked you over the front desk. No. I'm not interested in ignoring you. We can talk like civilised people at any rate and I'm not going anywhere." Lucas watched with great amusement as Nicolas's mouth opened and closed like a banked fish.

"Despite what he thinks and despite what you think, you need and deserve friends and that's exactly what I intend to be. I have a beginner burlesque class to teach but I'll see you for ballet tomorrow night." Lucas shot him a mischievous foxy smile and sauntered from the room.

Lucas felt pretty good as he got ready. Sure, his mother would certainly be shouting her disbelief if she could have heard the conversation. Mixing with vampires was an incredibly stupid thing to do. But Lucas was young and a powerful magic user. He felt confident he could protect himself. He had never actually gone up against a vampire before but honestly, he should be fine...

\--

Nicolas stood in the foyer of the ridiculously grand house that was his mate's home. He envied Lucas and his tall confidant stride. He tried to emulate but it was hard to imitate when his legs were shaking. The scent of blood and musk told him which way his mate lay. He could avoid him, pretend he wasn't home but that would only result in a painful ending. He made his way through the grand arched hallway and into one of the man's favourite studies.

Cassias was lounging comfortably in his black leather armchair. He smirked when he saw Nicolas and rose to his full height. Nicolas always felt utterly small under the man. He was only five foot one to Cassias's towering six foot two. Cassias was the epitome of everything Nicolas was not. He was tall, broad shouldered and thickly muscled. He had a long powerful stride to match his height. His face was hard cut with a well-defined jaw, touched with stubble.

His brown eyes were so dark they could almost be black and his raven coloured hair was cut short. Nicolas was small, curved and pretty with blue eyes and blonde hair. Cassias could very well have been his mirror opposite. This extended to their personalities as well. Nicolas tried to hold his ground as his mate and sire moved into his personal space.

“Welcome home." The deep baritone purred into Nicolas's exposed ear and he shivered. The older vampire breathed in a deep slow breath and Nicolas swallowed.

"Why so nervous? What have you been up to today?" the man murmured Nicolas went to step back but arms like granite wrapped around his lean waist and he was pulled forward.

"I'm not nervous. Just dance like always," Nicolas said, hyperaware of the lips and sharp teeth that trailed deceptively gentle kisses down the side of his neck.

"And yet you're trembling. What aren't you telling me?" Cassius purred. His arms tightened painfully.

"Nothing!" the young vampire yelped. His sire's eyes were gleaming dangerously.

"You know what happens when you lie to me." The words Lucas had said seemed to echo in his ear. Nearly eighty years he had put up with this bullshit. With a flash of inner fire, Nicolas shoved Cassius hard, making him step back

"You want to know what happened? One of the other dancers noticed make up on my towel and asked why the fuck I had a black eye! I'm shaking because your unpredictable and nothing makes you happier than seeing me in pain." Nicolas shouted. A terrifying silence filled the study. Fear crept up his spine as his sire stared down at him.

"You think I wanted this?" Cassias asked in a low ominous voice. Nicolas hesitated.

"And who struck first yesterday hmm?" his sire hissed. The man marched forward and Nicolas dodged, jinxing to the left when the man went to grab him. Cassius was far faster than he was though and in seconds he was back up against the large oak desk.

"I-"

"Silence!" Nicolas shut his mouth.

Yesterday evening he had come home and what had proceeded had been one of their worst rows in a long time. It wasn't until he was in the clean quite space of his home did he realize to late that Luca's scent was all over him. He now knew that was because he had leant back on Lucas's damp jacket but yesterday he hadn't understood how it had happened. His lack of explanation had provoked his mate. Words were exchange in English, Polish and French until Cassias has flat out asked him if he was fucking the other dancer. Nicolas had swiped at him with his claws, a stupid and emotion filled move that Cassius parried easily. His mate had backhanded him hard across the face for his effort, resulting in the black eye. 

"Which student?" Cassius asked slowly. Nicolas stiffened, giving it away without words.

"Him again? Really?" Cassius sneered. The anger was gone now replaced with cold terror.

"No, listen to me Cassius, nothing happened. He is no one, just some guy who goes to some of my classes. Please don't hurt him. He doesn't mean anything to me. It would be completely pointless making him number eight," Nicolas begged He grabbed at his mate's hands, holding them tight.

"Please, I'm sorry. Please don't," the older man considered him for a moment.

"I used to love hearing you beg. Of course, that was always when you were flat on your back underneath me," Cassius said softly. His hand came up and he gently stroked his thumb down Nicolas's cheek.

"Please..."

"But then you had to go do what you did. Ten disgusting crimes against me and mine. Ten. I have always been a man of my word and I swore that day that I would take from you what you took from me. Ten lives for ten crimes, your friends and family." Cassius snarled, fangs flashing.

"But he isn't a friend! I don't even know him! Cassius Please!" Nicolas would have fallen to his knees if the older vampire didn't have him pinned to the desk.

"I can never say sorry enough," he added with a small sob. His mate nodded.

"You cannot but when this count is over then we can put this all behind us," the man promised. Nicolas shook his head, blonde curls flying.

"No, we won't. We never can. You’re going to go on hating me forever," the boy sobbed. Large arms wrapped around his shoulders and he was brought forward.

"Hush little one," the words came out in Polish and Nicolas relaxed against the powerful vampire who was his maker. It was undeniable. He could not leave Cassius and Cassius could not leave him. A few days apart would cause unease. A month, an ache, several months and the pain was like losing one’s soul. As mated they were connected on a level of magic that truly wasn't found anywhere else. Even if he could bring himself to run, Nicolas knew he would come back because Cassius was his and he was Cassius's. He snuffled, curling into his mate's warmth.

"Besides. If the boy is truly not your friend then you have nothing to worry about," Cassius said. Nicolas froze.

"Ca-"

"I am a man of my word," the man’s words were utterly cold and condemning. His mate pulled away and made for the door, ignoring Nicolas's pleading cries to come back.

He would find this human and judge for himself whether or not to make him number eight.

\--

END

\--


	2. Number Eight

\--

Chapter Two

Number Eight

\--

Lucas had the odd sort of feeling that he was being watched. Not by anyone or anything in particular but the feeling was there, prickling at the back of his neck. He turned his head one way, then the other. Nothing looked out of place. There was no unfamiliar face in the twenty other ballet students that stretched and warmed up in the studio.

Nicolas wasn't there.

That worried Lucas. Lucas was technically both a student and a teacher. He had access to the back office. He had considered looking at Nicolas's induction forms to get the other man's contact details.

That would have course been massively against policy, potentially illegal, not to mention rude but it wasn't like Nicolas to miss class. He really hoped he hadn't gotten the little vamp in troublesome somehow. Sighing, he finished his warm ups and moved in to take his place.

The odd feeling followed Lucas as he left the dance studio that night. He said goodnight to the girls and threw on his favourite thread bare jacket. As he stepped out into the cold blue tinged street, that tickling sensation crept down his arms again. He looked out around. It was nearly seven thirty at night but there were quite a few good little restaurants around and the street was well lit. People moved about in little groups, chatting about this, that or the other.

Nothing seemed out of place. Still Lucas didn't move. Instead, he opened up his second sight and looked again. The auras of passing pedestrians looked perfectly normal and human. There was even a woman in a particular poufy coat, complete with the fluffy little white dog. Was it his imagination or was that guy with the really bad waxy toupee staring a little too hard at him? The hair stood up on the back of his neck.

Still feeling deeply suspicious, Lucas turned slowly and walked down toward the shopping centre, away from his own apartment. He had intended to go home but until he shook that feeling he thought perhaps it was best he ate out. Anyway, from what he could remember the contents of his fridge was made up of half a carton of soy milk, three jars of olives and some chicken that was growing a healthy layer of fuzzy mould… 

Okay, so maybe eating out wasn’t such a bad idea anyway. Lucas made his way to one of his favourite sushi bars. As he settled down with his usual order of inari, salmon rolls and veggie tempura, the odd feeling slowly ebbed away. Or at least he thought it did. That or he was getting tired.

It had been a long day. His muscles ached in that familiar way that came from many hours in the dance studio. He considered himself lucky. There were few people he knew that could claim that they were doing what they loved as a job. Lucas had gotten a few parts in ballet over the years but even if he didn’t snag roles in up and coming shows, he still taught several classes a week, earning a decent wage. He even taught the occasional private lesson. On very rare occasions, the studio got a couple of people to go to local high schools to run a couple of classes. Those were always good money. His studio apartment wasn’t very big but it was reasonably close by and he didn’t need a lot of room.

Lucas stretched in his seat, his shoulders twinging. It was getting late. He pulled out his phone and glanced at the screen. Yeesh. Yep, definitely time to head home.

He paid for his sushi and headed back down the street. He looked both ways as he crossed the road with both his normal sight and his inner sight. Still just an ordinary street with ordinary people.

He sighed. Maybe he was just imagining things…

\--

Lucas’s concern for Nicolas only grew as the week went on. The little vampire had now missed three classes in a row, something that was virtually unheard of. He finally gave in to temptation and asked Alice for his number. Alice was one of the senior dance instructors. In her forties but barely looking older than her late twenties. Her age was only given away by the faint lines that creased around her eyes and thin lips. Her voice was a whip crack and her smile the gentlest of sun breezes. She was loved and feared by almost every student that crossed her path. Many of the young girls looked up to her. Lucas wasn’t sure they all should giving her to thin frame and obsessive work ethic but she had one of the most successful dance studies in the city so it was understandable.

She looked Lucas now, a finely sculptured eyebrow raised.

“And why would I give you a student’s number?” she piped. Lucas beamed at her with all of his charm. It was always about as useful as a cup of water to a forest fire but it couldn’t hurt to try.

“He has missed a lot of classes. I need to find out if he intends to take more time off. If he does then we need to replace him in Don Quixote,” he said in what he hoped was a convincing professional approach. Alice’s eyes were like fire behind glass, fierce and oddly hypnotizing.

“You are well aware that we train several candidates for the role for this exact reason. If the boy does not return, he will be replaced. I’m a little unclear in your particular interest. He has hardly made himself particularly popular here,” she replied primly. Lucas winced. He thought briefly about trying to defend Nicolas’s honour but due to the rather stupendously atrocious tone he had set with everyone in the studio, Lucas knew that ship had probably long sailed.

You can tell anyone a tragic back story to ease people’s feelings towards an individual but if said individual is a complete asshole, then tragic story or not, people still think of them as an asshole. Lucas sighed.

“I realize that but he is also one of the most talented dancers we have had in a long time,” he said, some of his joking persona ebbing at the corners. Alice studied him for a piercingly long moment.

“Fine,” she said, taking out a folder from the filing cabinet. She thumbed through the contents before pulling out a sheaf of paper.

“Here. For what ever good it will do you,” she added, handing it over. Lucas smiled broadly as he typed in the number.

“Thanks Alice,” she chuffed and walked away with the sort of grace that made her look like she was floating.

Lucas stared down at his phone. Should he call now? It was only two in the afternoon. Was that to early? A prickling sensation made him look up. It wasn’t entirely dissimilar to the feeling he had the night before. A young boy was gazing at from the benches. His name was Tom and he was one of the tap dance students.

Lucas waved.

Tom didn’t wave back.

He just stared.

Prickling, like spiders under his skin, scuttled up Lucas’s arms. A cold sweat broke out over his brown. He made his way over, apprehension making him walk a little stiffer.

“Hey Tom, something up?” he asked in way of greeting. The boy blinked slowly, his eyes oddly glassy.

“Are you staying for class?” Lucas tried again. Another slow blink. Unperceptively slow, Lucas rubbed his thumb and fore finger together. The air felt… greasy? He felt a sort of unnatural damp, almost oily sensation.

“Are you waiting for Nicolas?” Tom spoke but the voice came out wrong. It was a deep tone. Far to deep for a fourteen-year-old boy. Lucas stared down at Tom, his own inner sight coming to the forefront. He kept his face blank as he stared into a swirling mass of petrified, slithering invasive aura.

There was someone else in there.

“I had hoped he would turn up. Truth be told we are getting a little worried. It isn’t his usual behaviour to disappear,” Lucas said in what he hoped was a casual voice. Panic and a deep powerful instinctive fear swelled upward from his gut. His mouth was a little dry. The noise of the students around him was fading to white static as his world narrowed to the person standing in front of him.

Person?

People?

Shit.

Tom cocked his head hard to the side, the movement weirdly unnatural for the teenager. Lucas was thinking very fast.

“If he hasn’t come back, perhaps he’s found something else. Something better,” Tom, but not Tom said. Anger pierced a small way into that core of fear. Lucas latched onto it, his gaze narrowing a little.

“Dancing was one of the few things that made him happy. If he gave it up to satisfy someone else that wouldn’t just be sad, it would be pathetic.” Lucas growled. He had to be careful. Aside from the odd voice, Tom was outwardly, just another student. No one in this room was able to see the thing crawling in and around the boy.

Well.

No one but Lucas. But he was sure or at least pretty sure the vampires didn’t know that. Nicolas didn’t know about Lucas’s world. It was the only edge he had and he couldn’t risk revealing that he knew anything more then anyone else.

“You think so?” Tom said, his voice coloured deep with anger.

“He spent his entire time here trying to drown out the world and everyone in it. I’m not sure he would be much of a person anymore without dancing,” Lucas added. Tom seemed to pause into statuesque stillness.

“You know him well then?” Tom asked. Lucas stiffened, sensing danger like a jack rabbit catching a flash of orange in the long grass. 

“He’s one of the best students we have. Do I know him personally, no. He’s never opened up to anyone here from what I understand,” Tom seemed to lose some of the odd stiffness.

“I wasn’t aware you knew Nicolas well enough to say one way or the other. He isn’t even in any of your classes,” Lucas said as he tilted his head at an angle as though considering the young teen. Tom’s face went blank for a moment. Then he shook his head. When he looked up at Lucas again, the glazed look in his eyes was gone. Slowly, Lucas let out a breath.

“Urh… I don’t? Wait, what were we talking about?” Tom asked, puzzlement in his face and a lighter tone to his voice. Lucas grinned nervously.

“It wasn’t important. I’ve got to go. See you Thursday,” Lucas waved. Tom, still looking lost and a little confused, waved back and turned to head out the door, his tap shoes slung over one shoulder. Lucas hurried into the locker room.

What the fuck was that?

He didn’t know vampires could do that. Was that a vampire thing? Yes, of course it was, the hell else could it have been!? He glanced down at his phone again. Before he had entirely finished processing whether or not this was an entirely intelligent thing to do, he hit the call button. He held his breath as it rang in his ear.

“Hello? Who is this?” There was a flood of relief at the sound of Nicolas’s voice.

“Were you planning to come to class at all this week?” Lucas’s voice was bright and loud in the speaker. He heard the sharp inhale.

“Lucas!? What are you doing?! How did you get my number?” Nicolas’s voice was a violent seething hiss. Nicolas grinned at the tiled wall.

“I’m a teacher here. You’re a student,” he said cheerfully.

“I’m not your student! You teach burlesque!” he spat.

“Potato, potarto.” He heard an aggravated groan and could imagine Nicolas standing there, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“You need to get off the phone. Don’t call me again,” the other boy said. Lucas shook his head even though there was no one else to see him.

“No. You need to come back to dance. You can’t let him do this to you.” There was something akin to a crack of hysterical laughter.

“Let him!? Lucas, he already controls my life! I’m doing this to protect you. He will kill you!” His tone was achingly desperate and miserable.

“I can take care of myself,” Lucas said. Another bark of laughter.

“You really can’t. He isn’t a school yard bully. You can’t talk him away or tell the teacher. You have no idea what he’s like!” Nicolas said, voice mocking in his ear.

“He’s already been in the studio.” Lucas said.

Silence.

“He… when?”

“Just left.”

“What did he say?” There was real panic in Nicolas’s voice now. The speaker was rustling faintly as though the hand holding the phone was shaking.

“Not much. I got the impression that he was fishing more for what I thought about you,” he didn’t add that the vampire had turned up in the flesh suit of another human being. That might be a bit much right now.

“And what did you say?” Nicolas breathed.

“That as a teacher, I was concerned that you had vanished off the face of the earth without saying anything. I’m not an idiot Nick, no matter what you might think. I didn’t say anything that would put you in danger.” Or at least… he really hoped he hadn’t. He could still hear heavy breathing on the other end of the line.

“It would be better if I just stayed away,” Nicolas said after several long minutes.

“Let me ask you something and please answer me honestly if you can. Would that fix anything? If it’s not me, won’t it be someone else? Are you going to stay away from all living beings forever? Is that logical? Hell, is that even doable these days?” Lucas sat on one of the benches and plucked at the lint stuck to his blue jacket. It was starting to smell a little rank. He really needed to do some washing when he got home.

“I… I don’t know what else to do.” That voice was so small and weak. It tugged at Lucas’s heart.

“Look, I’ll see in class tomorrow. Don’t be late.” Before Nicolas could respond, Lucas ended the call. He hoped he would come. What if he didn’t come alone? Yikes.

Perhaps it would be more then prudent to visit the local nursery. If he was going to be messing around with vampires, he was going to need to stock up on some things.

\--

Nicolas was rocking on the balls of his feet. He had walked fifteen laps of the ridiculously huge mansion. He couldn’t sit down to wait. He had to talk to Cassius, find out what the older man had done or was planning to do. He was still trying to absorb the absurd notion that the vampire had gone to the dance school.

To go to the dance studio in broad daylight in front of so many witnesses…

It was late when his sire finally walked through the lobby, his usually pristine clothes darkened by dampness. The finely hand tailored patterned suit jacket had a small smattering of blood along the collar. Even at this distance, Nicolas could tell by scent that the blood was from no one he knew. He was not yet sure if that was a good sign.

“Did you meet him?” he asked. It certainly wouldn’t do well to let his mate know that Lucas had rung him already.

“I did.” Cassius looked down at his jittery mate. He inhaled deeply, scenting the apprehension that exuded from the smaller vampire.

“And?” Nicolas had to force the words out. Cassius strode passed him, his stride its usual powerful self-asserted confidence. Nicolas tailed after like a lost child. He chewed his bottom lip as the older man poured dark amber whisky into a crystal cup. Vampires could very well eat and drink like any other being, they just didn’t get any substance from the act. He waited as long as he could as the man settled himself in the largest arm chair, one long leg draped luxuriously over the other.

“Well?” Nicolas blurted out, unable to take the silence. Cassius smirked up at him.

“You may return to your loving dance class,” he said. Nicolas blinked. Had he heard that correctly?

“That’s it?” he said, not entirely able to keep the stark disbelief from his tone. Cassius’s smirk turned nasty.

“Yes. Your mouthy little dance instructor passes. For now.” This must be what going into shock felt like… Nicolas padded closer. He studied the man. He even dared to pluck the crystal cup from his maker’s relaxed hand. Eyes locked with his lover and captor, Nicolas took a long drink of the burning whisky and handed the cup back.

“Thank you. I’m going back to class tomorrow,” he said, trying to sound more assertive then the front doormat. The older vampire tilted his head.

“By all means.” This had been easy. So horribly easy. Its not as though he had wanted Cassius to announce his intention to kill Lucas but agreeing so readily made Nicolas deeply uneasy.

It had been almost sixty years ago that Cassius had made a similar promise not to harm a young Welsh boy Nicolas had started seeing. The boy was utterly innocent and friendly. Cassius had pronounced his disinterest and Nicolas had three weeks of real fun horseback riding all over the country side with what he had timidly begun to think of as a friend. It had been late Christmas Eve when Nicolas had awoken, screaming.

The intestine had been braided together and laid over him as some morbid visceral Christmas wreath. Small crushed up pieces of bone were sprinkled around his pillows, a mockery of a lovers rose petals.

Nicolas had screamed. He had cried. He had cursed and threatened and fought. Cassius had simply absorbed it all with little more then a look in his direction. Nicolas had left that afternoon. It was his fourth attempt to run away. He caught a train and had spent the first three days trying to drink himself into a coma he wouldn’t wake from. The distance from his mate was an agony all of its own and when Cassius came to get him little more then a week later, Nicolas had no fight left in him. Just like all those other times before.

“Something on your mind love?” Cassius smooth voice broke Nicolas from his melancholy.

“No. No everything is fine,” he murmured. He turned to go, still not quite sure if he was sentencing Lucas to death.

\--

Nicolas found himself rather annoyed at just how much he had missed Lucas’s wide obtrusive grin. The young man hadn’t stopped grinning since he had turned up for class nearly an hour ago. He was still nervous, still uneasy at the idea that his mate had allowed him to come back without any consequence but Lucas’s good mood was incredibly infectious.

Nicolas danced better then he had in years. His posture was perfect, his gestures light and his spirits high enough that he performed each and every dance flawlessly. He had soon attracted the attention of both dancers and audience alike and for the first time, he didn’t feel quite so sickened by it. Lucas danced close by, almost trying to match him move fore move. He was having fun.

“So! I suppose you weren’t entirely slacking off whilst you were away,” Lucas chortled. Nicolas shoved at him with a dignified snort.

“Hardly. We can’t all be slack with our lives,” he sneered. Lucas laughed. He always laughed no matter what Nicolas said or how he said it. It was both insanely annoying and somehow endearing.

“Ouch. Sorry we can’t all be so pristine as his majesty.” Lucas gave a ridiculously extravagant bow on pointed toes. A quiet laugh escaped him before he could grasp it. Lucas’s head snapped up.

“What’s this!? A laugh!? My goodness, no! My boy, you must sit, you’re clearly delirious!” His fake thick British accent was awful as he hurriedly gestured to an empty plastic chair. Nicolas rolled his eyes.

“You are such an idiot,” he muttered. Lucas just grinned. Again.

Even after three hours, class seemed to finish to soon. He changed quickly into fresh clothes and sprayed himself with a deodorant he knew Cassius liked. Best not tempt fate by coming home reeking of other sweaty people. Lucas chatted happily away beside him.

Nicolas’s hand suddenly paused over his sports bag. His head snapped up towards the front door of the studio where a towering figure shadowed the glass. His mouth went completely dry as Cassius strode into the studio. What surprised him more was that Lucas went still beside him as well.

“I’m going to head to the office to finish up some paperwork. See you Friday.” Lucas said, perhaps a bit quicker then was normal. The young man hurried off, passed the change room and down the right corridor, away from the Cassius. He guessed that Lucas was actually taking his warning seriously, not to antagonise his boyfriend. He appreciated that.

What he didn’t know was that the real reason Lucas fled had more to do with the fact that Lucas was sure if the older vamp got a good smell of him in person, then he would absolutely identify him as a witch. Nicolas might be young but the single second of almost painful electrical charge Lucas felt when the man entered was more then enough to convince him to make himself scarce.

He did pause briefly at the edge of the corridor, taking an absorbing look at the man. It was hard not to because, damn, Nicolas’s abusive ass of a boyfriend was at least easy on the eyes. Hard muscle, tall frame, dark hair and even darker eyes, the man was devastingly close to Lucas’s own preference for big men.

If he could get passed the fact that the man was an old unhinged, murderous vampire. Which he couldn’t… was he wearing leather pants?

No. Bad Lucas. Time to go.

“What are you doing here?” Nicolas asked nervously, deeply aware of the murmurs and looks they were getting from the surrounding humans.

“I thought, if I wanted to keep an eye on you and you want to dance, it would be simpler to drive you and pick you up from classes,” his sire purred. Several of the young girls were looking their way, their eyes wide and cheeks red. Hell, several of the boy were looking too. Desperate to get the man away from the crowd, Nicolas picked up his sports bag and slung it over his shoulder.

“Okay. I’m ready to go. We could… stop and getting something to eat on the way home?” he suggested timidly. Feeding was something that always made Cassius happy, or at least, less aggressive. His sire smirked, not missing the small manipulation. Still, he seemed pacified.

“After you.” Cassius held out an arm. Flushing, Nicolas led the way out of the dance studio, nervously glancing back over his shoulder to his sire sniff curiously at the air. His facial expression was odd as he did so, almost as though he was unsure of what he smelt. Nicolas sniffed too. He could detect a hint of rosemary and recognised it as Lucas’s scent.

Still.

There wasn’t anything odd about it. He stepped out into the street and after another mildly puzzling look, Cassius turned and followed him.

\--

END

\--


	3. The Wonders of Witchcraft

\--

Chapter Three  
The Wonders of Witchcraft  
\--

Lucas sighed. He sat in the relative quiet of the office, staring at the laptop. He had been moving his class list's around, updating changes of address and mobile numbers. The usual boring admin crap of what was otherwise a fun job. The only background noise was of a heavy Beyoncé track for the large hip hop class using the floor. Normally he would have joined in but he had actual work to do. He wasn't nervous about leaving for the day. 

Not at all.

ish.

He punched in the postcode of another new student. If the class got much bigger, he was going to have to talk to Alice about splitting it into two groups. He would also have to look about ordering the jackets for the performance in a few months... He had that sizing template lying around somewhere.  
He sighed and rubbed at his eyes. He really should get home. He was bone tired and the Beyoncé track was starting to get on his nerves. It was a new dance which meant the first twenty seconds of the song were being played again and again... and again. 

Pause. Yelling. Play again.

Lucas saved the file he was working on, wrote himself a sticky note about the jacket order and closed down the laptop. He grabbed his bag, slipped on his jacket and flicked off the light. He didn't bother setting any of the alarms. Amelia would set them all after she was done with her class. He gave her a little wave and he slipped out the fire door. She waved back before shouting again.

"What are you actually doing!? Seriously, Mia, you have no spatial awareness tonight!"

Lucas greeted the night air with a shiver. It was cold, not quite that steely bite of ice and snow but it was getting close. The summer heat he so loved was evaporating for another year. His mind turned to what he could be bothered to make for dinner. He still hadn't gone grocery shopping. He was insanely tired though and the idea of going to the shops and fighting against the crowds of cranky mothers and chubby toddlers to get the essentials sounded neither fun nor motivating. Maybe he could stop at a general store and buy a bottle milk. He was sure he still had some cereal at least...

He had gone nearly two blocks when he heard the yell. Being a relatively early Friday night near the city centre, yelling was hardly unusual. What was unusual was for a high-pitched yelp to be abruptly cut off into a choking muffled howl. The sound of it sent Lucas stumbling over a gutter. The hair stood up on the back of his neck as he whipped around to face down a long winding side street littered with black garbage bins and a dented in mailbox. It was dark down the side street with one rather pathetic street lamp that was winking in and out of a merge yellow existence.

It was the epitome of every cheesy horror movie backdrop he had ever seen except for maybe a Disney movie. It needed hissing bats and a few bouncing aluminium cans for that scene to be complete.

"Ignore nor it. You have delicious overly sugary cereal waiting for you," he muttered, hoisting his backpack higher on his shoulder. He took a few more steps when the choking  
noise turned into what was mistakenly sobs, still muffled and uneven. Damn it.

Lucas had an odd sort of flash back as he looked back down that creepy little street. He must have been about eight or nine. His mother was dragging him roughly through the shopping centre, her steel like grip tight on his sore wrist. She dragged him a lot due to what she considered his terrible habit of getting distracted by shop displays, street magicians and musician. People his mother considered ‘vagabonds.’ 

They had been marching passed a bakery when Lucas saw two big looking teenage boys grab a third, much smaller boy by his shirt and give him a rough shake. They were speaking in low tones and the smaller of the three boys looked pale and scared.

“They’re bullying him!” Lucas exclaimed, alarmed. He tried to stop but his mother yanking him on again.

“It is not our problem.” She had snapped. 

“But we could help!” Said Lucas. Her head whipped around, her brown eyes hard and mean looking.

“Of course we can’t. Normal folk like us don’t get mixed up in riffraff. Children have no place getting into fights.” She said coldly. Lucas shook his head.

“We don’t have to fight the bullies ma! We could do… other things.” He said daringly. Even if he was a brave boy, he dared not say that word. The word that would turn his mother hysterical. He knew by now, the level her hatred and fear of even the mere sound of that word. Magic. 

She whipped him around so hard that his shoulder gave a little pop and his teeth clacked together inside his head. She grabbed him firmly by both shoulders, her eyes drilling into his.

“There are no other things.” She hissed. A few passing people gave the pair startled looks. His mother ignored them.

“You here me? I will not have it under my roof, tainting my son! It should never be used, especially in public. Ever. Now come on.” She barked. She started dragging him again and as Lucas looked back at the three teenagers, the smallest boy met Lucas’s gaze. He saw that fear, that desperation and in that one frightened look of a fellow human being Lucas knew, even at his young age, that his mother was wrong. 

Shit. 

Lucas stepped out of the main thoroughfare and into the side street. This was insanely stupid; he knew it was. But, of course, when had he ever had the common sense to keep his nose out of other people’s business? What would be the best thing he could do? Should he start yelling and just hope that it was a plain old mugging and the attackers would run? Something told him from the very depth of his bones that it wasn’t a plain old mugging. 

Plan B then?

The talisman in his bag was an old one. Held together by cotton, the little parcel held blessed salts, fennel seeds and dried oregano. The use of dried herbs was just about as old as the human race itself. Unfortunately, having a witch mother ashamed of her own identity meant that Lucas’s knowledge on the subject was limited. He dug out the little bag of herbs from its plastic container. He didn’t want his gym bag to smell like curry. He held the parcel in his left hand and edged around a dumpster.  
He saw the feet first. A pair of muddy red sneakers lay toes up. Then the legs, the grey track suit pants. Then he saw the shape of two figures. One, much further away, huddled again the far wall by any alley, hunched and cringing. The second figure was far larging and leaning over the unconscious man, a hand with black claws digging into the man’s face over his mouth. 

Lucas watched the man’s fingers twitch. 

Suddenly the massive figure lifted its head, snapping in Lucas’s direction with unnatural speed and Lucas felt the blood drain from his face. The talisman would mask his scent, even his appearance at a distance. He took in the large puddle of blood, the pale figure of the unconscious man and the rather messy bite wound. He wasn’t going to live. Christ, the wound look like it had been made by a particularly unskilled person with an angle grinder. 

That was just… excessive. 

As the hulking figure loomed to full height, a wind picked up and blew several locks of worryingly familiar black hair. Nicholas’s boyfriends had obviously decided to have dinner too. Did that mean the other figure was Nicholas? Lucas squinted but the other person was just to far away and huddled, not making eye contact. He thought maybe the other figure had not even noticed Lucas was standing there yet. 

A low hiss like hollow death filled the street. Several barking dogs a street away went silent, their terror something palpable. Oh yeah. This was a really fucking bad idea. Even for him. The other figure was turning around now but Lucas didn’t stop to see who it was. He turned tail and ran from the side street back out onto the main road.  
Heart pounding, adrenaline pumping, his bag banging against his back, Lucas raced frantically towards the restaurant district. He dug into his little bag of salt and threw it down behind him, chanting Latin in rapid click.

The footfalls of the creature behind him was not lost on his ears. The man had long legs and was fast catching up. Vampires were creatures of supernatural ability. They were far stronger than ordinary human but there speed was only mildly increased. They couldn’t blur in and out of existence like they did in the movies. There was a chance, a small chance, that Lucas’s long lead and the warren like streets would protect him enough to hide him. If he could just keep his lead. 

For that, he would need his spell. 

Cassius lunged over the corpse of the human and after the fleeing witch. He has paused, sensing an audience. The figure, framed and backlit by the much better glow of the main strip took him off guard for the briefest of moments. The witches face was blurred out. He could not tell if the person was male or female though he thought it might be male. He felt Nicholas go still behind him and knew his fledging has seen the witch too.

The witch fled back onto the street, Cassius fast after him, negotiating around several trash cans. He could smell the dried oregano and fennel from whatever charm the witch had used. Ignoring the blaring horn of a nearby taxi, Cassius took chase to fleeing figure. His long legs slowing closing the distance between them.  
The figure rounded the corner. The vampire dogged a startled couple walking the other way and went around the corner in pursuit. Only to stop dead. As he stopped, his eyes grew wide.

Water washed up the pavement and into his leather shoes, soaking his trouser legs. From where he stood on the top of the street, he was looking at something out of a fairy-tale. People laughed and chatted as they waded through waist high waves, completely unperturbed that the entire street as far as the eye could see was submerged in over a metre of water. 

A school of glittering sardines shot passed Cassius’s calf as he stepped forward. His boot heels were unsteady on the slimy seaweed covered road. Icy ocean spray licked up his legs, sticking the leather to the muscle. 

It was an illusion. He knew it was and yet it looked and smelt so real. 

The cars drove on, sending up waves of water. The water was well up passed the windows, but the little taxis and sports cars still drove on completely unperturbed by their apparent submersion. The scent of salt water, black mud, sweet rot and damp timber were all familiar and yet utterly out of place in a suburban street, miles from the nearest ocean. 

He shook his head violently. It took a minute but as he opened his eyes, the image of the washing waves dissipated like mist on the early autumn night air. An empty coffee cup skittered passed his feet and into a clogged gutter. Dry ground once more supported him.

Cassius smirked. 

It had been a long time since he had seen such a spell and performed so perfectly. It had done its job too. He looked around but even as he did so he already knew that the little witch had slipped away. He took several long slow breathes. It was always more difficult to track prey in a city. There were to many powerful scents. Exhaust, frying oil, perfume, rubber, rubbish, tarmac… all mixing to sit thick and distracting on his palette. 

Just once though, as he turned his head, he thought he caught the scent of rosemary. It was gone on the crisp air and did not return even as he walked a slow lap around the block. He returned to his mate. Nickolas was turning the body of the jogger into a pile of ash. It was a skill that not all vampires could learn. He was glad his mate had been able to learn it. It did come in useful when it came to disposing of bodies. He young mate had not been happy that he had chosen such an obvious target.

Nickolas had been even less happy when Cassius had not shown any interest in keeping the human alive. The boy knew better then to argue but his cringing posture and refusal to join in on the feeding pissed Cassius off. They were predators and humans were food. Decades on and the boy still refused to step up and into his role as a vampire of Cassius’s bloodline. 

Oh, he could play the part, dress the part, say what he was expected to say but the boy’s heart wasn’t in it. Cassius had already suspected that every gesture of civility Nicholas showed him was practiced and false. That too pissed him off, partly because he knew it was his own fault. 

“Did you find them?” Nickolas asked, picking up the burnt clothes and disposing them in the nearest dumpster under a bag. His master prowled into the alleyway but he was difficult to read. The man was smirking but Nicholas could smell no additional scent of blood. 

“No.” Nickolas froze in an attitude of shock.

“Really?” he could quite hide his disbelief. Cassius stalked towards him, grabbing a fist full of his hair and yanking him up against the broad frame that was so much the opposite to his own slender dancer’s frame. 

“No pet. We will though. I must say. I thought this city was going to be boring but if there is a witch in residence, perhaps we can have some fun after all.” He purred, grinding his hardening length against Nicholas’s belly. His fledgling glared up at him.

“Your disgusting.” He muttered, trying to wiggle out of his grip. Cassius wrenched his head back and went for what he knew was a particularly sensitive spot on his mate’s throat. Nicholas gasped, shoving half heartedly at him. 

“Come.” He half dragged him boy back towards their parked car. If there was a witch in this city, he would find them. He just had to make a few preparations first. 

\--

“Holy crap.” Lucas panted. He was doubled over, clutching at stitch in his side. 

“You just had to go down the creepy murder ally.” He muttered to himself. He was getting odd looks from the night time shoppers so he pulled himself together and limped towards a Thai place. Yeah. He deserved a decent meal for the crap he just went through. 

Sorry Mr cereal. You will inevitable be eaten tomorrow night after I’m to lazy to go grocery shopping. Again.

Sitting down in front of his plate of vegetarian spring rolls and bowl of steaming laksa, Lucas was still shaking. He chewing on the end of one chopstick as he glanced out the shop front window. He still half expected the vampire to come prowling down the stretch and spot him. He was sure his masking talisman had worked. It was old and well loved. Even as he had tucked it carefully back into his bag it had hummed to him like a cat rubbing against its master’s legs. 

Lucas told himself that it was the adrenaline that still pumped through him that was causing the tightness in his gut. Even if that wasn’t the truth. He remembered that split second gaze, the sharp teeth, the iron tang of blood in the air. The relaisation that he was facing down a real predator.  
Yeah. You would think that kind of scenario would do the complete opposite thing to him. That thing being a semi hard cock pressing uncomfortably against the front of skinny jeans. He wiggled a little in his seat. He always been attracted to danger, the bad boy stero-type. At first it had been his own petty way to drive his controlling mother bat-shit crazy. 

But it had morphed into something more as he had gotten older. Big hands and tight grips always sent a zing of arousal straight to his groin. As a witch it was rather difficult to not know that the supernatural world exsist. He had a fling with a guy who had said he was a werewolf. The rough sex had been fantastic but Lucas had gotten bored.  
That was his problem. He always got bored. A fast fuck with a hook up was always nice but he was to hyper, to over the top for most and his longest relationship had never lasted more then three months. Lucas wasn’t ashamed of that. He honestly didn’t give a fuck what people called him and oh he had heard it all, the most common being ‘slut.’ He punched that one guy in the throat, undone his zipper, palmed his own crouch and promptly said;

“You only called me a slut because you’ve realized I would literally fuck everyone else in this club but you. That includes Jeffry.” Jeffry was the club owner, and forty-two and straight… and married. Still he wasn’t bad looking with his salt and pepper hair and his shirt always missing the top two buttons. Lucas had earnt a fair amount of credibility that day. 

Still. This was next level. Even for him. Lucas busied himself with his laksa soup for several long minutes. Apparently running for his life had really amped up his appetite. It had been over a year since he had needed to use a spell with that much juice. His finger tips were still tingling. Hmph. 

He was going to need to stock up on supplies. There was no way he could get caught out like that again. He grinned before biting into a spring roll. He could have fun with this. He ignored that little voice inside his head that was screaming that he was walking to his own scaffold and made a mental list of supplies. Oh yes. This was going to be a lot of fun…

\--

END

\--


	4. Dancing with Danger

\--

Chapter Four

Dancing with Danger

\--

It had been nearly three days since Cassius had chased the witch into the streets. Three days of his maker locking himself in his office, planning whatever it was that he was planning. Nicolas had almost gotten used to his sire hardly paying him any attention, so invested in his ridiculous witch hunt. He thought with Cassius occupied he would feel less suffocated, more like himself but instead he felt the opposite, agitated and oddly lonely. He found himself wondering about the mansion. The few ongoing servants they had refused to speak to him.

He had a sickly feeling that they physically couldn’t. Cassius used compulsion often and without much thought. He probably ordered them not to speak to Nicolas after one of their usual shouting matches. Not wanting to stay in his farce of a home, he was now spending more time than ever at the dance studio. Dance was one of the precious few releases he had these days. 

Weirdly enough, Lucas seemed to be behaving oddly as well but whereas Cassius was making himself distant, Lucas was becoming louder and clingier than ever. Lucas was addictively annoying. His constant grin and infectious energy made him both exhausting and rewarding to be around. Nicolas could say just about anything to the other boy but he never went away. With Lucas around, he didn't feel quite so alone. As he watched the other boy reset the track to start their next warm up, he couldn't help but wonder what kind of life Lucas had lived to make such a bright person. He imagined two loving parents, exasperated but supportive. The image was an alien one.

"Are you going to join in or just stand there gorping at my luscious ass?" Lucas called over to him. Nicolas felt his face going bright red.

"I am not looking at you ass." He snapped indignantly. Lucas snorted out a laugh.

"Me thinks you protest too much." He said, sticking his backside out in Nicolas's direction. Nicolas rolled his eyes.

"How does anyone put up with you?" He grumbled, shucking off his jacket and coming over.

"Must be my wonderous charm!"

Lucas knew that he was bouncing up and down like a jack rabbit on a sugar high but he couldn't help it. For the last three days he felt like he had been living on an extended adrenaline high. So much so that Lucas knew he was becoming increasingly annoying to the people around him. He couldn't help it though. This bizarre game of cat and mouse he was playing was by far the stupidest thing he had ever do in his short reckless life but the lure was too strong for him.

The other reason for his excess energy was even more worrying, if possible. It had been a long time since Lucas had reached into the veil and used magic for anything more than simple spell work. He had almost forgotten the delicious zing of lifeforce that came with its use. It was the biggest reason he had to step back and focus on other things such as dancing. Lucas had never been properly trained or raised by a coven of his fellows but even he knew the catastrophic side effects magic addiction. 

In an attempt to distance himself from these thoughts he was throwing himself into his dancing more than ever before. He woke early, ate a hurried breakfast and practically ran the short distance to the dance studio.

Rehearsal began at 10am sharp. They took a break a short break at twelve before starting up again at half passed. They were still going through the repertoire for Don Quixote. As well as burlesque and hip hop the studio also held a Pilates and yoga classes. The Pilates in particular, the ballet students were encouraged to attend in order to help with flexibility and mobility. For the male dancers, legs, ankle and knee injuries could be common, especially if proper warm up and warm down wasn't done. 

Nicolas was never able to attend the early morning Pilates classes but he was staying for the yoga at the end of most days. Lucas highly doubted it would matter much for him anyway. Even a young vampire had stronger ligaments and denser bones then a mundane human. With his fast healing rate, he probably never felt the aches and pains that other dancers did after a full ten-hour day. Lucas wondered as he watched Nicolas slide in to a perfect split, if he had always been a dancer or if it was something he had picked up later. 

"I have no idea what has gotten into the two of you but I'll take what I can get." Alice said primly, one of her thin eyebrows raised. Lucas gave a low bow with much ridiculous flourishing of his wrists.

"I aim to please." He said. 

"Please stop talking." Nicolas groaned. 

\--

Cassius crossed another address off his list. It had been one of the last locations he had and one of the biggest disappointments considering the house he was looking for had apparently been bulldozed to make a carpark as of eight years ago. The disappointment was quickly followed by a surge of excitement. There was little history of witch covens in this city, even less in the last decade. He had gone to the local cemetery and found the family name of the only active witch coven that had been recorded. The whole family was now dead with one exception of a great granddaughter who now lived in Norway. 

Popular culture depicted witches as lone agents, able to operate in secret from their own domains. Cassius knew this was very rarely the case though. Magic was as addictive as it was unpredictable. It was also genetic and ran through family bloodlines. Witches generally grow up and practice as part of a family unit, a coven.

But there was no coven. 

He was now sure of it. But that made the alternative so much more enticing. A lone little witch, operating of their own accord. Young, probably. Inexperienced but powerful. Oh, what he could do with the blood of a witch...

And yet...

His instincts told him he was missing something vital. The scent that had eluded him that night was oddly familiar to him and he couldn't place why. Nicolas was too inexperienced to recognise the feel of magic or the scent of a magic user but if the witch continued to spell cast, his or her scent would grow stronger. Oh, the irony, the very thing that protected them also made them easier to track, hunt and find...

\--

"Is your illustrious boyfriend coming to pick you up today?" Lucas asked, leaning back to the gratifying sound of his shoulders popping. Nicolas wrinkled his nose.

"Don't do that, it's bad for you." He said. Lucas snorted.

"That's an old wives’ tale." He said, now cracking his knuckles. The other boy shuddered. 

"It's disgusting and I'm not sure to be honest. He hasn't really... been around much lately." Lucas watched the slight dip in Nicolas's shoulders. 

"And you're... not happy about that?" Lucas ventured. The young vampire flinched; his expression slightly guilty. 

"I don' know. I thought I would like the breathing room. I mean, we fight all the time. I shoulder be happy that he's giving me some space." Nicolas muttered. He froze. He hadn't meant to say that much out loud. He hadn't shared his personal life like that with anyone before. Not in a painfully long time. Lucas looked thoughtful.

"I'm no relationship expert but a little distance could be good for you. Is that why he hasn't been around you, you two had a fight?" He asked, trying not to sound to invested as he pulled on a pair of fresh socks. 

"Not exactly... He's... he gets very focused when he finds something he's interested in." Nicolas said and as he did so he felt a pang of something else new. He examined it carefully before he realised what he was feeling. Jealousy. He rubbed at his eyes, annoyed. 

"And he's found something interesting?" Lucas said in a would-be innocent voice. His pulse was starting to climb. He should not be getting excited about this. He really shouldn't. Nicholas gave him an odd look.

"Are you alright?" The vampire asked, obviously able to hear his quickening heart.

"Ah, yeah. It's just hot and stuffy in here, you know?" He said, standing up abruptly. 

"I should go." He added, pulling the strap of his gym bag over one shoulder.

"Oh. Okay. See you tomorrow." Nicolas said, surprised. Lucas tried to ignore the faintly hurt look of Nicolas's face and hurried away to the office. He wanted to activate his little herb talisman. Even a meagre disguise would be better than none at all. The scent of fennel and oregano washed up to him as he took the little pouch. It was more pungent than usual; Luca having hunted down fresh herbs. The best kind were homegrown. Herbs that had been pest sprayed, partly frozen, old and refrigerated in the supermarket wouldn't do as well. He felt the magic licking along his veins and tingling up his spine. He shivered happily and placed the little bag around his neck with a length of string. He went out the back way just in case Nicolas's vampire boyfriend did come to meet him after all. 

The temptation to use a bit more magic was strong. He was excited to see if his online orders had arrived at his apartment. Honestly his browser search history was going to look very weird to anyone who saw it but there were just some ingredients that he just couldn’t get from the local food market. 

Alongside his chameleon talisman, he was also now carrying around a pouch of black sea salt. It was one of the most expensive and oldest ingredients that he owned. He knew many witches just used regular sea salt and when they were done, they simply swept the salt up into the bin. Lucas wasn’t that wasteful. This had created an odd sort of bond between himself and his old materials. The salt hummed at him in recognition as he moved the pouch from the depths of his bag and into his back pocket. 

He walked a quick confident pace down the street, staying well in the lamplight and busy corridors of traffic. He did know of a few short cuts down various alleyways but knowing there was a murderous vampire looking for him was very motivating to walk the long way around. Good exercise. 

He sniffed appreciatively in the direction of a few street vendors sell spring rolls or kebabs. Shoppers talked and laughed, a street performer was playing an electric violin on the corner and brightly coloured lights winked in the few trees that dotted the paved road strips. Lucas’s mother had wanted to move to the country. It was yet another thing he fought with her about religiously. He loved the city and all its noise and drama. 

Thankfully they had never had the money or means to move away into some back-hill town like she had wanted. He thought she had probably only wanted it in a vain attempt to separate Lucas from the less desirable aspects of society. 

A sudden prickling in the back of his neck made Lucas slow a little. The pouch on his hip jiggled slightly. Frowning, Lucas gently touched the leather with his fingertips. The salt inside was slithering around. Definitely alarmed now, Lucas looked about him. There was a fried chicken shop close by as well as a nail salon and Korean restaurant. He could smell the nail salon from here, the smell of the polish pungent. He hurried over and then pulled out his phone as though he had suddenly got a text message. 

He leant against the cold brick near the door of the salon. A woman in her thirties looked at him curiously on the way in. Lucas tried to give off a look of mild relaxed contentment, slumping again the brick with his flyaway hair and open posture as he scrolled meaninglessly through his text messages.

As he did, he tried to carefully look around. He couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. There was no hulking figure in all black, no eyes that stood out or people that were looking at him to long. Nothing. 

He would have chalked it out to his own nerve if not for the way his salt continued to shifts in its pouch. It, at least, was sure there was danger. His lips quirked slightly at the thought that perhaps at this very moment the vampire was doing the same thing, sensing something close but couldn’t see him. 

Were they at this very moment, dancing around each other? 

\--

Nicolas tried not the scowl as he pulled on a jumper. He was annoyed which in itself, annoyed him. He had been waiting an hour and Cassius wasn’t here. He shouldn’t care. Fuck it. 

He grabbed the door handle, remembering just in time to curb the anger so he didn’t rip it off the old door or crush the knob in his hand. Vaguely, he wondered where Lucas lived. He wondered what the other boy would have said is he had asked to eat dinner with him. Probably something flirtatious and annoying. 

The ridiculous mansion that Nicolas shared with his master was to far to walk. He was going to have to flag down a taxi. Still grumbling to himself, he turned right and nearly walked head first into a familiar chest.

“Sorry I’m late.” Cassius murmured. He took Nicolas’s chin and tilted his face up for a surprisingly gentle kiss. Nicolas blinked, a little thunderstruck.

“Uhh... that’s okay. I wasn’t waiting long.” He lied, his cheeks going pink. 

“Did you enjoy classes?” His maker asked, taking the bag Nicolas was holding.

“Yes, I’m getting better.” He said. His maker didn’t usually do small talk. Unnerved, he followed the man away from the dance studio. 

“Did you find anything out about the witch?” He asked, trying to keep things friendly.

“Oh yes.” Cassius purred and Nicolas felt a shiver run down his spine. Human cut a wide path around them. It was like they could sense something in air that told them to stay away. No one met their eyes. 

“Do you know who it is?” Nicolas had to walk fast to keep up with the taller man’s swinging strides.

“Not yet. If your dancing had improved so much, perhaps I can stay and watch tomorrow?” Nicolas stopped walking, his lips parting in surprise. 

“Really? You… you want to watch me dance? I thought you found it boring.” He said. His mate turned to look at him. He raised a hand and placed it against Nicolas’s cheek. Despite himself, he leant into the touch. He shouldn’t be this desperate for it. It was pathetic. 

“You said it was important to you. That should make it important to me also.” Cassius murmured. Utterly bewildered by this sudden change of pace Nicolas blinked up at him.

“You could come and watch. Alice doesn’t mind onlookers so long as they don’t distract the dancers.” He said. He couldn’t help but feel excited. Maybe the man was finally trying to make them work. Cassius gave a small smile. It still looked a little creepy. 

“Alright. What time would you like me to come?” He purred. 

“Well the first hour or so is generally stretching and warm up so may come at three?” Nicolas said timidly. His sire gave a slow nod. 

“Alright. Come. You’re to pale. We need to feed.” Still dumbstruck Nicolas followed after him as his master headed down a side street towards the sounds of voices of some young street teens. He couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across his face.

He heard them talking, the English mixed with a heavy slang. He felt like he was floating. He didn’t notice when the teen called out to them, swearing and jeering. Even as Cassius let out a rumbling hiss, sending the youth running. Even as Cassius caught grabbed one and through another in Nicolas’s direction, he kept his smile.

The frame of a thin teen was shoved towards him. The teen smelt of cigarettes, body odour and cheap liquor. With hesitation, his ripped the dirty hair back and sunk his teeth into the sweaty neck, drinking heavily. More screaming, a heavy thud and the sound of something wet snapping. Nicolas didn’t care. 

When he was finished with the corpse, he let it drop. A large hand grabbed him by the neck of the neck as Cassius roughly spun him around. The kiss that was forced on him was bruising with sharp teeth. He shivered and let out a small groan. His back hit the graffitied brickwork and Cassius ran a possessive hand along his inner thigh. 

“Soon love, I’ll present you a little witch and you’ll know what real blood tastes like.” His master purred. Nicolas started up at him, feeling a little drunk.

“So long as your there too, I don’t care.” Nicolas panted. Cassius smirked widely.

“You will. Trust that, you will.” He sniggered. On that rather ominous note, Cassius gripped him by the back of the next and guided him out of the alleyway, leaving the still twitching bodies behind them.

\--

END

\--


	5. That Awkward Moment

\--

Chapter Five

That Awkward Moment

\--

Lucas stretching, muscles tender and joints popping. He'd really been over doing it lately. He hadn't ached like this since he first started dancing nearly nine years ago. He groaned, jaw clicking on a huge yawn. As he swung his legs out of bed, he was struck but how dreary the day seemed outside. It still looked almost dark outside; the sunlight unable to break through the thick cloud cover. It was probably going to rain. 

Lucas decided on a quick shower which would most likely be uncomfortably cold given that his apartment had the shittiest hot water system in the whole damn city. With a yelp, his suspicions were confirmed as icy water poured over his naked body. Teeth chattering and mouth cursing in every language he could think of, he quickly scrubbed himself down and fell back out of the shower again. 

At least he was awake now. 

He was pulling on his favourite denim jacket when there was a knock at his front door. A quick glance at his phone told him in was a little before nine. He padded over and raised his fingertips to the door. He didn’t feel anything magical on the other side. His door didn’t have a peep hole but at he wasn’t picking up anything unusual. The black sand which he now carried everywhere, was still in his pocket, feeling much like a disinterested cat. He opened the door to find a scruffy, slight overweight and very bored looking postman. The man didn’t even glance at Lucas, only shoved a tablet at him.

“Sign please,” he grunted. Lucas signed and the man shoved a small package into his arms before walking off, pulling a pair of holey trousers back up his fat ass as he did.

“Such a lovely man,” Lucas chirped. He pulled his head back inside his apartment with his new package. He already knew what it was. He placed the box on his rather pathetic excuse of a kitchen bench and excitedly grabbed a knife to slice through the tape. 

The large piece Tourmalinated Quartz glinted in the low light of the kitchen. The was the size of a hamster. A very fat hamster. He dug his hands into the squishy wrapping and took it out. It was a stunning display of clear and inky lines, criss-crossing in its depths. To his surprise, now that he had hold of it, he wasn’t quite as excited. He owned a battered old pendant. It was little more than a frayed leather cord that held a scratched piece of Black Obsidian. He had won it at a fair years ago. As he stood in his kitchen with his new purchase, he swore he could actually hear the old necklace sulking from his bedroom. 

He left his new quartz and found the necklace buried under a pile of socks on his dresser. He put it on, the cold stone quickly warming against his skin. As he grabbed his keys and threw his bag over one shoulder, he felt the obsidian smugness. 

It had been a long time since he had felt this connected with his materials. He had missed the sensations. It had also been a long time since he had chosen to use magic on a daily basis. His sensitivity to his materials increasing the more he used them. Distantly he wondered if was probably a bad idea to use the same items for his spell work but he couldn’t see a downside. He had certainly never been taught any other way. He’d never been taught at all really. 

He stopped by a favourite cafe and ordered a large coffee. As he waited, he looked about in the street. The morning was busy despite the threatening weather. Though there were many people wandering around, Lucas didn’t feel any fear. It was much to early in the day for vampires, even old ones, to be out yet. 

Coffee in hand, he went on down the familiar path to the dance studio. These streets were so familiar to him from years of walking the same footsteps. He knew every crack in the pavement, every pothole that had been half-assedly filled in. He knew the barber and the street vender selling magazines and newspapers. Lucas recognised the alleyways to avoid and which ones held the kind of stray cats that would go for the eyeballs if disturbed. 

He sighed happily and sipped at his coffee, the liquid burning hot, strong and sweet. A wiser person, knowing danger was so close, would stay home. A well-educated witch would have stopped spellcasting. Lucas was neither of those things however and when the dance studio came into sight down the road, he muttered a quick protection charm to ward against ill omen. 

\--

Nicolas was unreasonably giddy and nervous.

“Pull yourself together, he’s just going to sit there and watch you dance,” he muttered angrily to himself. His legs were trembling and he was having real trouble lacing his ballet shoes. 

“Need help?” Lucas cooed, shimmying over to him.

“No,” he snapped. His voice came out a lot sharper and harder than he had really meant it to. How Lucas put up with his anger and tartness was beyond him. No other human had ever wanted to be around him. Not anymore. Not since he had thrown on his mask and never taken it off. Lucas just seemed to absorb everything in stride and let it go. He couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy towards the human.

Lucas was dipped into another stretch. As he did so, another student opened the front door and a breeze blew in. A strong scent of rosemary and spice wafted past Nicholas’s nose. It was strong and made his nose itch. He looked up sharply. Was that Lucas’s scent? It couldn’t be. It was so strong.

“What?” Lucas obvious felt the gaze on him. 

“Are you wearing cologne?” Nicolas spluttered. Lucas glanced over at him.

“No, why?” then, because he could never help himself, he added;

“Do I smell good?” 

“No,” Nicholas spat. That was a lie. He did smell good. He smelt really good. Nicolas couldn’t understand it. It was both different and familiar. He knew Luca’s scent, warm and always the same. He found himself taking in deep breathes through his nose. His fangs itched. He shook his head, trying to clear it. He watched the willowy figure of the other male prance back over to the group. 

“Hurry up slow poke!” Lucas howled. Nicolas scowled and stood. Trying to force thoughts of his sire out of his mind, he headed onto the floor and started to warm up.

As the afternoon wore on, Nicolas couldn’t help but look between the clock and the studio door students came and went between sessions, parents came to pick up their children and children themselves noisily got changed or put on shoes. He knew he was looking up more and more often. Lucas noticed. If the young vamp’s sire was going to make an early appearance then Lucas would have to make his excuses and leave early. 

“Are you expecting someone?” Lucas asked. Nicolas bit the inside of his lip. He hadn’t told Lucas that Cassius had planned on showing up. Even now, he wasn’t sure if he should. Lucas wasn’t like any other human he had ever might. He had been good at keeping his distance but if Cassius came and actually sat down to watch, would the human go over and start talking to him?

Nicolas’s belly did a little flip. He felt an odd roiling of emotions in his gut. It took several minutes of inflexion to realise it was a mix of worry, nervousness and jealousy. He didn’t want Lucas to flirt with his sire. Partly because it was one of the world’s most unsafe activities and partly because… well there was no getting around it. Lucas was gorgeous and funny and outgoing and bold and just… so much that Nicolas wasn’t.

“No. Not really,” Nicolas lied. Lucas shot what might have been a nervous glance towards the door. There wasn’t anyone there though. The afternoon continued on in a loud haze of repetition, music and noise. Nicolas was starting to get nervous. What if his sire really didn’t come? The rain that had been threatening the city finally began to fall around 4:40 in the afternoon, making the grey world outside even darker. 

The group had stopped for a break. Lucas was debating loudly with one of the girls if it was worth getting drenched if it meant they could grab a coffee before they started up again. She tilted her head, considered the rain with a sour expression. It was as she opened her mouth to reply that the door to the dance studio opened and a tall figure stepped into the room. 

Lucas was so busy prodding Sarah that he missed the movement. He glanced once in Nicolas’s direction, saw the rapt expression and guess to late what it meant. Lucas felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. Sarah’s open mouth went a little slack as she stared wide eyed at the large figure that Lucas could now sense behind him. There was a tang of copper, iron and cloves in the air. The hair along his arms and neck stood on end and he didn’t need his salt to tell him that he had fucked up big time. He turned.

Nicolas smile dropped as his sire walked right passed him to stand behind Lucas. The boy turned and stared up at the vampire. Nicolas had seen that smirk many times in his long undead life. Nothing good had ever come from it. Time seemed to halt. Nicolas looked from his master to his friend and fear twisted itself up hard in his chest. Not again, not here, not in broad daylight!

“Sir, I must ask you to sit down, we are about to begin.” Alice’s commanding voice cut through the babble, startling the world back into motion. Nicolas waited, his whole body tense. His sire gave a dip of his head.

“Of course,” he purred. He went over to one of the horribly inadequate plastic chairs and sat down, his eyes fixed on Lucas.

Fuck. Fuck! He was so fucked!

Lucas turned back to the front of the class, his face an incredibly painful mask of a smile he was not feeling. The vampire was here! Why hadn’t Nicolas told him he was coming? He glanced over at the younger vamp and noticed the look of worried panic on his porcelain face. Maybe Nicolas hadn’t known the man was coming early? 

It didn’t make a difference now. The damage was done. If the vampire hadn’t known he was a witch before, he certainly did now. What should do? Leave? They were in the middle of class! There was no way he could just slip off without being noticed. Not only would Alice chew his ass out but the vampire would easily follow him.

Trying not to hyperventilate and ignoring the fluttering of hot spikes of adrenaline, Lucas listening to the click of the stereo and the start of the next track. There was nothing to be done. He had to wait this out. Maybe at the end of class, with everyone leaving together, he could slip out the back way and get away. Nicolas might even help him. 

Nicolas could scent his sire’s arousal from here. Something had the old hunter enticed. It was to early to say if it was him or Lucas. Lucas was not dancing as smoothly as normal but he could hardly blame the other boy. His friend seemed to have accurately picked up of the dangerous vibe in the air. 

Cassius didn’t move from his chair. He held an unnatural stillness that even the mundane humans seemed to notice. As other people came in to watch or set up for their own classes, they cut a wide circle around the dark-haired man and no one sat closer than four seats away. 

Lucas could feel the eyes on him like a physical touched. They racked from his jaw line down the length of his lean frame. His mouth was dry and he fought down a shiver. He felt flayed open by that gaze. His body was not handling the situation very well. He had always loved a dangerous lover, had put himself in some ridiculous situation but nothing like this. His tight clothing felt especially restricting and his cock was half hard in his pants, clearly not on the same page as his panicked brain. 

An hour of standing under a very bright spotlight, it didn’t matter where Lucas danced, the eyes of the master vampire found him. Lucas’s eyes darted to the clock. There were only a few minutes left. He briefly wondered if he should just leave his gym bag here. Maybe he would just loose his head completely and run out into the rain like his ass was on fire. 

“That will do for today. Helen, you need to improve your balance! Practice! The performance is only a month away!” Alice tutted. The large group began to disperse. Heart thumping wildly, Lucas wasn’t surprised to find Nicolas at his side.

“You need to lea-”

“I can’t say I approve of your choice in friends love. It’s not safe…” Cassius purred, making the two boys tense. Before either could reply he added;

“Running around with a witch.” 

There was a moment in time, like that wholly awkward moment of stillness as a photo is taken. No one moved. Cassius looked at Lucas, Lucas at Cassius and Nicolas stood in between the two. His eyes went from one to the other, pale lips slightly parted. As Cassius’s eyes started to bleed red at the edges and Lucas reached inside his back pocket, realisation seemed to strike Nicolas like a runaway steam train.

“You’re the witch?” His voice sound oddly high pitched. Lucas didn’t look at him. He was still smiling too, that big broad one that showed his dimples and white teeth. 

“Well. I’ll see you in the next class.” Lucas said in a bright voice. He turned and walked towards the lockers. It was insane but what else could he hope to do? There were people around. Perhaps he thought that if he left at a slow walk, the vampire would only follow him at a slow walk. Nicolas was absolutely gobsmacked. 

He could hear, now that he was focusing on it, Lucas’s increased heart rate. Lucas’s reaction was nowhere near the piss inducing terror Nicolas so often saw from humans who had learnt the truth. A delicious smell of rosemary and spice followed from the sweat coming off the boy. 

“Don’t kill him,” Nicolas croaked in a slightly broken whisper. He knew his mate would hear him. 

“Kill him? Why of course not. I promised I would give you a witch. Wouldn’t you like a pet?” His sire placed a hand on the back of Nicolas’s neck and pressed him after the other retreating dancer.

“Pet?” Nicolas rasped. When Cassius looked back at him, his eyes had gone completely red. Nicolas swallowed.

“Consider him a gift,” The man growled. Trembling slightly, Nicolas grabbed the edge of the man’s coat.

“What kind of a gift?” Cassius stopped. That large hand coiled from the back of his neck to the front of his throat. He seemed utterly oblivious to the scandalised looks they were getting from several startled and disapproving parents.

“The kind I will hang for you. We’ll decorate him, bleed him, train him. He can keep you company when I’m not home,” he purred. Nicolas shivered.

“You promise you won’t kill him?”

“I promise.”

Lucas was fumbling with his ingredients. He had not prepared for this. His hands were sweaty and his fingers felt like they were being controlled by someone else. He used his teeth to pull out the cork from one of his bottles and tipped the dried nightshade berries into his palm. Panic was a horrible thing. He knew many offensive spells and yet now that he was under pressure… he couldn’t think of a single fucking one!

He heard heavy boots on the hardwood floor. Throwing caution to the wind, he flung himself around, a spell on his lips. Then, a thick cloud of iron dust was blown straight into his face. Lucas doubled over, coughing violently as the iron dust that he had inhaled entered his lungs and ate away at the magic in his body. 

He briefly saw Nicolas’s face, even paler than usual, his eyes wide. Before Lucas could draw in a clean breath, pain bloomed hard and sharp across the back of his skull and the world dramatically cut to black. 

\--

END

\--


	6. Domestic Relations

\--

Chapter Seven

Domestic Relations

\--

Lucas coughed weakly as the world came back to him in slow throbbing waves. He felt ridiculously weak, like he had run a long marathon and come dead fucking last. His body was heavy and his sluggish brain was having real trouble deciding if he was lying down, standing upright or hanging upside-down by his ankles. Upright, he decided finally. That was obvious by the fiery pain in his shoulders. He groaned.

“Awake pet?” The deep sexy purr of the older vampire penetrating his rocking skull. Lucas frowned.

“Nah, still asleep. You might want to try again later,” he said. A large hand cracked across his cheek. He yelped, his eyes flying open. He scowled at the dark-haired figure.

“You sir, have terrible people skills,” Lucas said sourly. The vampire smirked, showing long canines. Nicolas stood off the side. He had changed into a loose jumper and sweat pants. He looked rather adorable, especially with the soft pouty expression on his face. 

“Usually I wait until at least the second date before I let my partner tie me up,” the human quipped. Nicolas’s eye twitched slightly. 

“Please ignore everything and anything that comes out of his mouth,” the boy grumbled. 

“I think he rather likes the attention,” observed the older vampire. Lucas sucked in a breath as icy fingertip touched his bare chest. Bare? He glanced down painfully at himself. He had been stripped down to his boxes. Well at least they had left him with some kind of clothing. 

Ish. 

“You said he was my pet. Why are you touching him?” Nicolas croaked.

“Our pet, love. Besides, this is your first time breaking in a human. I need be sure you set him proper boundaries. Pets need a strict hand,” His master growled.

“Urhm…” Lucas squeaked.

“Do you like him better then me?” Nicolas hissed. The younger vampire hadn’t been prepared for the flood of jealous that would come from this. 

“Better than you?” Cassius asked in a puzzle tone.

“How long have you known, that he was the witch?” Nicolas whispered. His master raised a wickedly sharp eyebrow.

“Does that matter?”

“How long!?” Nicolas’s voice rose in volume. His sire shrugged one shoulder.

“A week.” If he thought this would calm his young mate, he was mistaken. Nicolas shoved him hard. 

“You asshole!” he shouted.

“You said you wanted to watch me dance but you just came to find the witch!” Lucas looked from one to the other, his eyebrows raised.

“This sounds like a pretty intense domestic. How about I just give you guys some space?” he said cheerfully, giving the chains a little shake.

“Shut up,” Nicolas snapped at him. Lucas closed his mouth. With every minute that passed, his brain was getting a little lighter. He hurt all over, especially in his shoulders as his arms were cuffed above his head. He could at least get his feet under him and stand, taking the weight off his aching shoulder joints. 

As he rolled his neck, he felt something stiff and tight around his throat. It was a collar. A metal collar. No, no that wasn’t right. It was then, with a flutter of panic that Lucas realised what the old vamp had down. 

He was wearing an iron collar. 

Well shit. 

“I have caught you a witch, your anger is childish,” Cassius said in a dead pan voice. Lucas blinked. Okay, wow.

“Umm, are you serious? You told him you wanted to watch him dance, something he both loves and happens to be very good at and instead you spent the entire time ogling someone else’s ass with the soul intention of leaving with them at the end of the session. Pretty sure that marks you as a massive asshole even by undead standards,” Lucas put in helpfully. Both vampires turned to look at him, Cassius with a raised eyebrow and Nicolas with a blush to his pretty face. 

Lucas was less impressed when Cassius started to come back towards him, his heavy boots thudding against the floor ominously. If he had been able, he would have leant away from the man. Even if his body had other ideas. Muscles aching, brain fuzzy with pain and what was probably a mild concussion, he had absolutely no right to feel as aroused as he did. What was worse, he knew the two vampires could smell it on him. 

“You are mouthy for a human,” Cassius observed, flashing a fang. Lucas met his gaze unflinchingly. 

“So, my mouth would be fine if I was something else? My fae is pretty rusty but I could have a go,” he snarked. From somewhere to his left Nicolas buried his face in his hand and muttered what sounded like a prayer for patience. 

“Lucas, if you don’t stop talking, I’m going to kill you,” Nicolas snapped. Cassius seemed both bemused and baffled by the lean, tiny iron bound witch in front of him. It seemed so insane that this human, strung up like a roast duck in a shop window was able to be so confident. Cassius reached out a hand pressed it against the warm chest, feeling the pounding heart under his touch. 

“You understand I could rip your heart out?” Cassius mused. Lucas wrinkled his nose even as his knees shook.

“Well yes but you could say the same for a steel gate. Also, that seems excessively violent. Are you always that mean to your cleaning ladies?” he asked. Nicolas swore foully. Cassius threw his head back and laughed, a deep full bellied sound that made the two young men stare in amazement. Nicolas was transfixed. It had been… decades, centuries since he had heard that laugh? 

He walked forward and took the man’s face in his hands. Rising up his toes, he pressed his lips to his sires. Powerful arms coiled around his waist. That forever itch that crept through him when they were apart to long was doused in heat and want that neither had expressed in years. He whimpered, begging for entry, tracing tongue over lips and teeth. Cassius gave a low growl, angling them and tasting Nicolas with possessive urgency. 

Lucas watched, wide eyed. His cock twitched in his shorts as he watched them try to steal each other tonsils. He may have drooled. Just a little bit. When the two vampires drew apart Nicolas stared up in wonder at the taller man.

“I’m sorry I deceived you. I can see now how much it had upset you,” Cassius murmured, running a broad thumb across the delicate jawline of his younger companion. Nicolas sighed quietly, resting his weight into the man. Those blazing, predatory eyes lifted to the dangling witch.

“As for you…” 

“You should kiss him again. Seems to make him less grumpy,” Lucas offered helpfully. Nicolas couldn’t help the grin. The other dancer was just so insane. 

“Where did you find this human?” Cassius asked. There was an odd sort of grudging respect in the man’s expression and amusement in his tone. 

“He grows on you. Unfortunately.” Nicolas murmured. 

“He needs to be trained to keep his mouth closed,” Cassius murmured. Lucas raised both eyebrows.

“You say that but you have no idea what my mouth can do. I have skills,” he said proudly. 

“Maybe we should just gag him,” Nicolas muttered. He watched nervously as his master left his side. He struggled against the disappointment of loosing that contact. Cassius temper could be terrifying. His main fear was that Lucas, in his babbling, would trigger it and loose the bottom half of his jaw as a result. 

“This is how it is witch. Whatever life you had outside is gone. You belong to us now. You both belong to me. You are both mine."

There was a piercing intensity to those red rimmed eyes as he said the word ‘mine’. Lucas was having trouble drawing air into his lungs.

"Being owned is definitely a first," Lucas croaked, trying for light hearted but feeling his heart thud hard in his chest.

"You're scaring him," Nicolas murmured, his face falling. Cassius smirked. He drew Nicolas in to him again.

"I'm not, scent him, love." Lucas felt his face flush hot as Nicolas leant forward and inhaled deeply. A visible shiver ran up the young vampire body.

"Are you... are you enjoying this?" Nicolas asked, utterly perplexed. Lucas face, if possible, got redder.

"Umm, I can't exactly help my reaction," he choked out. Glancing briefly in Cassius's direction and being given a small nod of encouragement, Nicolas reached out a hand and slid his fingers along Luca's exposed skin. Goose flesh broke out along Luca's bound arms and his flinched at the feel of sharp nails dragging gently down over his belly.

"Have you ever trained a willing pet before?" Nicolas asked at a whisper. Cassius purred, nuzzling into his curls.

"Not for a long time. Normally their submission bores me quickly. This one though... I think we will have fun with this one."

Lucas gave a rather unmanly whimper.

\--

He was a lot less impression and a lot less aroused when they left him dangling to go off into god knows where. The pain in his skull had dulled to a steady headache, drowned by the more piercing pain in his shoulders and throbbing ache in his thigh where he apparently bashed into something when he had been knocked out. His stomach was also beginning to grumble. He hadn't eaten anything other than a cup of coffee since... well actually he had no idea what time it was. There were certainly no clocks around.

The room he had been strung up in was some kind of a study though it was probably larger than his whole damn apartment. Rich deep red carpet was under his toes and large towering bookshelves filled most of the walls. There was an impressive heavy looking timber desk front and centre with an overly large plush leather chair behind it. 

The room smelt of age, the cloves from expensive smoking cigars and the tang of something metallic. The desk held two stain glass lamps with low orange bulbs, their light casting heavy shadows on the stack of books along the desktop. He shivered.

Lucas felt the collar shift around his throat. He was grateful the metal was covered because direct contact with the poisonous metal for such a long period of time would have him puking his guts up onto the floor. Even so, to reach inside himself and feel nothing was an unnerving experience, like having a limb go completely numb and unresponsive. 

He had finally done it; finally gone too far and now he was caught. He had no else to blame but himself. He could almost see his mother's smug expression over her gaunt face. She always told him his disgusting attitude, wicked preference for magic and dangerous ideals would cause him to meet a sticky end.

The growing exhaustion made him sway on his feet. The soft glow from the lamps seemed to make tiny twinkling lights dance in front of his half-hooded eyes. Every now and again, he would slump and fire would rip up along his shoulders and jerk him awake again. Christ this was some bullshit. When were they going to come back? What is he needed to take a piss? or worse? 

\--

"He certainly is different," his sire mused. Nicolas watched him prowl slowly up and down their bedroom.

"He wants you," Nicolas murmured. That fact still shocked him but there was no mistaking the human's arousal. Cassius hummed. As he stood, he took the time to deeply analysis this. It was odd, to be jealous. It was an emotion that he hadn’t felt since Casius had first found him all the centuries ago. On top of that was deniable, inescapable guilt. Lucas had sought him out, befriended him against all his attempts to drive him away and was now their prisoner. Some friend Nicolas was.

"Is that something you want to consider? To have him share our bed?” His sire’s questions jolted him from his thoughts. He looked up, barely daring to hope.

“I’m surprised you would allow that,” Nicolas whispered. Cassius had never allowed anyone to touch Nicolas intimately before but, in a way, he supposed Cassius didn’t consider Lucas a threat or an equal. 

“He is our little slave. You can bend him, break him as you want," Cassius purred. Some of the jealousy Nicolas had originally felt was doused a little as he imagined his friend's face, flushed and desperate, begging Nicolas for mercy as Cassius took him like a stud with his prized bitch. Lucas was definitely gorgeous, lean and bright. 

"Yes," Nicolas allowed himself to admit, his throat dried.

"I want that." He thought of that pouting mouth that never seemed to stay closed and a small inhuman purring growl escaped him as he thought of all the ways he would finally shut that mouth up…

"Then let us go get him down. He will have passed out again by now," Cassius mused. 

Nicolas paled further and bolted for the door, panic in his veins. He heard his sire chuckle behind him as he ran the short distant down the marble corridor. Flinging open the heavy door to the study, he could see Lucas was indeed slumped in his shackles. His head was lulled forward and he was unresponsive when Nicolas called his name.

Nicolas took the young man’s face in his palms. The skin was cold to the touch. He was very pale, the eyes shifting sluggishly under tightly closed eyelids. 

“Lucas?” Nicolas gave the man a gentle shake. 

"Don't panic love, he's not much hurt. I'll take his weight and you can unhook him," Cassius purred, obviously amused. Nicolas shot him a sideways glare but did as he was told. As they unhooked Lucas's arms, the dancer gave a low groan of pain.

“Remember, he is just a pet,” his sire rumbled. Nicolas swallowed a lump in his throat. 

He was going to have to be very careful how they did this. He had to find a way to protect Lucas from the worst of Cassius’s temper and ‘training’ or the dancer wouldn’t survive until the end of the week. As he looked down into the perfect face of the young man who always rubbed him up the wrong way, he knew. He knew he wouldn’t survive if Cassius took Lucas’s life. He couldn’t live through it again. 

Carefully, he carried Lucas out of the study, feeling the blazing eyes of his master on the back of his neck as he went. He took Lucas to one of the spare bedrooms. They had nearly fifteen of the things. The house was disgustingly massive but he had no say in it purchase. He hated the empty rooms, like so many neat mausoleums to people who never lived. This house reminded him of the family he had given up, the people he would never have and the dead relationships that he had caused. 

Nicolas laid the witch out on the covers of the bed. He heard the chink of metal links and winced as Cassius came in with a length of chain.

“Is that really necessary? His magic is gone,” Nicolas muttered. His sire smirked.

“He hasn’t earnt to right to wander our halls. When he is trained, he may have a longer leash.” He watched sadly as Cassius fixed the chain to the loop in Lucas’s collar and a ring in the wall behind the bedframe. 

He bit his lip as Lucas shifted slightly in his unconsciousness. If Lucas’s comfort depended on his behaviour then Nicolas was really dreading the next time the boy woke up... 

\--

END

\--


	7. Spending the Day

-

Chapter Seven

Spending the Day

\--

Lucas looked to innocent and peaceful when he slept. He was perhaps, a shy to thin. Many of the ballet dancers in the dance class were thin but Nicholas could see the outline of ribs even under the sheets. He could also see very faint nicotine stains on the young man's fingers. The scent of smoke had lessened but was still notable. Nicolas had barely moved all night. He had been worried that Cassius would change his mind or decide to wake the dancer without him there. Nicolas's own eyes were sore and his body was growing heavy. He could fight the pull of the sun for a while but he was still young and needed to rest, especially after the emotional roller coaster of the past week.

He had found himself drifting off in the comfortable wide armchair, his head nodding forward on his chest. He was woken by the sound of a groan. eyes still feeling heavy, he jumped when he found Cassius standing over him. Lucas was stirring in the bed.

"You need to rest properly. do not let me find you sleeping in a chair again love," Cassius warned. To an average person, this statement would have sounded like one made out of concern. Nicolas knew better though. From somewhere behind his master, Lucas gave a sleepy groan. If the dancer could just stop himself from saying anything stupid...

"So, who do I have to blow around here to get breakfast?" Lucas asked cheerfully, rubbing at his face. Nicolas choked on his own spit.

Well. So much for that.

Cassius turned to the young man now peering up at him from the bed.

"Did you sleep well?" the vampire asked. Lucas smiled, his dimples showing.

"Why yes, I did. Thank you kindly for asking. Can't say I'm massive fan of your lullaby technique but your probably not up to date with contemporary methods," Lucas said cheerfully. Nicolas buried his face in his hands.

"Do you find yourself amusing?" Cassius asked, sounding genuinely curious. Lucas gave a small shrug.

"I like to think that my unique charm helps keeps things cheerful and interesting," he chirped.

“Can witches grow back their tongues?” Cassius wondered. Lucas’s smile faltered a little bit.

“Umm, I’ll be honest, I’ve never asked and I don’t particularly want to try myself,” he said with a false laugh. His eyes flicked to Nicolas who shot him a ‘shut up’ face.

“If you don’t wish to then why are you still talking?” Cassius purred, leaning down.

“Umm, force of habit?” Lucas squeaked. The hand that suddenly had hold of his jaw was tipped with lethal claws. The grip was bruising and Lucas fought down a wince.

“This is your only warning pet. Mind your tongue around me or I will cut it out and feed it back to you as your only meal of the day. Do you understand?” For the first time since Lucas woke, he seemed to have regained a little common sense. Instead of speaking, he gave a stilted nod, his jaw still tightly held by the vampire.

“Good. Nicolas, you may play with him for a while but don’t let it leave this room,” Cassius warned. He released the man and seemed to glide from the room. When the door shut, Nicolas rounded on Lucas.

“Seriously? That was the first sentence out of your mouth!?” he spat. Lucas was rubbing his jaw gingerly.

“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” the dance mumbled.

"You can't just say whatever you want around him! You have to filter yourself," Nicolas snapped. Lucas blinked.

"I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I'm not very good at that," the dancer said. Nicolas gave a low growl.

"I've noticed," he spat. Lucas shivered.

"Do that again."

"What?"

"Growl. It was sexy. And cute. Like a baby panther."

"I hate you," barked Nicolas, marching over to the bed and leaning in.

"Nah, you love me," Lucas said, unintimidated by his proximity.

"Listen to me, you backward mentally damaged child, if you don't do what I tell you too, Cassius will kill you! That's not a play on words, it's a fact. Humans are less then dogs in his mind. He doesn't care if you starve to death or cut your own wrists. This. is. not. a. joke," Nicolas was breathing hard, his eyes fixed on Lucas's face. Something in the young man's face shifted very slightly.

"I know." The voice came out soft. Lucas met his gaze.

"I know it's not, I just... this is how I process stress," Lucas said quietly. Nicolas closed his eyes and took a steadying breath.

"Lucas, I don't want him to hurt you. I don't want to hurt you but I... I can't let you go. I'm... he's..." Nicolas's lower lip quivered slightly and he lapsed into silence.

"You're afraid of him," Lucas stated gently. Nicolas shrugged, half in anger, half in desperation.

"Yes and no. I'm afraid of what he can make me do. I don't like the person I can become when I'm around him," Nicolas admitted, saying out loud an admission that he had carried for over a hundred years.

"Who do you want to be?" Lucas asked. Nicolas gave a weak smile.

"I don't know," he confessed. Luca's smile widened.

"Well there you go, something we can work on together and Nicky? Don't worry yourself too much. I like it a little rough," Lucas sniggered. Nicolas shook his head.

"I really don’t understand you."

\--

Lucas stared down at his bowl of cereal with a massive grin on his face.

“I get the whole ‘feeding the human’ thing is new to you but you do know that you’re supposed to add milk to the cereal yeah?” he mocked. Nicolas flushed.

“I do but given that we don’t generally have humans eat breakfast in our home… that was all I could find. You should be grateful,” Nicolas huffed. Lucas chuckled.

“Oh, but I do. You are a gracious master,” he purred, watching with immense satisfaction as Nicolas flushed red. His grin fell away however when he put the first spoonful of dry cereal into his mouth and bit down. Now it was Nicolas’s turn to smirk.

“It may be fairly expired,” the vampire sniggered.

“You are evil,” Lucas spluttered through a mouthful of what he would swear were ironwood shavings.

“I do my best,” Nicolas said politely.

“Well if your planning on snacking on me, I hope my dinner will be better then this.” Nicolas smirked died a little. Yes, undoubtably he and Cassius would be snacking on Lucas. Against he felt the mix of guilt and desire. Blood taking didn’t have to be painful but with Cassius involved there would be no guarantees.

“We have a chef for evening meals,” Nicolas admitted. Lucas stopped chewing and stared at him.

“What the heck for? How many ways can you garnish a bowl of blood?” Nicolas gave a snort of laughter.

“I’ll have you know we generally have our blood from tumblers. Or goblets,” he replied.

“How very Dracula of you,” Lucas sniggered.

“Please don’t ever say that when Cassius is around, you’ll lose teeth,” sighed Nicolas.

“So why do you guys have a chef?” Lucas was still picking at his bowl of cereal despite its grossness. Nicolas felt another pang of guilt. The young man was obviously very hungry.

“Vampires can eat most regular foods; we just don’t get much out of it. We can’t absorb what we need from flesh of harvested animals but the ritual of sitting down to a meal is… nice. Normal. Cassius likes to sit down to a meal but we have to drink fresh blood regardless. An equivalent would be like a human trying to survive on nothing but chocolate. You wouldn’t die straight away but you wouldn’t be heathy either.”

“I guess that makes sense. Never knew any of that,” Lucas said interestedly.

“You could fill oceans with what you don’t know,” Nicolas teased.

“You wound me!” Lucas said dramatically.

“Don’t tempt me,” replied Nicolas flatly.

After that horrible attempt at breakfast/lunch, Nicolas unchained Lucas from the bed and showed him to the bathroom. After taking care of business they had sat together in the massive bedroom.

“You know, most of my flat could probably fit in here.” Lucas sniggered. Nicolas shifted uncomfortably.

“Cassius has a thing for big places. I’m not sure why. From what I understand of his past before he met, he was the captain of a ship.” Lucas goggled at him.

“Really!? Like a pirate captain? Please say pirate. He would have looked hot wearing a tricorn,” Lucas gushed. Nicolas couldn’t help but laugh. His mind wandered and he couldn’t help but agree that Cassius, with his sharp jawline, black hair and leather boots, would indeed look very fetching in pirate’s clothing.

“Maybe…” he hummed.

“Oh, you’re thinking about it,” Lucas sniggered, poking him. It was strange, this relaxed ease the two of them shared despite the seriousness of the situation. Lucas was his prisoner. The dancer should be afraid, resentful even but he was neither of those things. He lounged back in the bedroom, legs flung everywhere and looking both adorable and annoying.

“So why dance?” Lucas asked, head upside-down and hanging off the bed.

“I always loved to dance. Unfortunately, ballet was not the carrier my family had selected for me,” Nicolas said bitterly, glaring hard at the carpet as though it had mortally offended him with its fluffiness.

“Yeah? And what did they want you to do?” Lucas asked, propping his head on his hand.

“My family came from old money though my grandfather had most of his investments in the fishing industry. My father wanted me to have a proper, acceptable marriage and settle down to the family business.” Even to his own ears, his words came out stilted and cold. His accent was starting to bleed through, something that always happened when he become emotional.

“And you couldn’t find a nice acceptable young girl?” Lucas asked with a wry smile.

“No,” Nicolas said flatly.

“So, when were you born?” Lucas asked, his eyes bright with interest.

“1881,” sighed the vampire. Lucas seemed to consider this for a bit.

“Thought so.” Nicolas blinked.

“Excuse me?”

“Well I knew you had to be somewhere between 100 and 150 years old because you can only tolerate shaded sunlight and only for about four hours,” Lucas said matter-of-factly. Nicolas gaped at him.

“So, you didn’t know we could eat solid food but you knew about that?” he spluttered. Lucas laughed the sound was warm and musical.

“The few other witches I hung out with when I was younger did teach me a few things but for the most part, I learnt to accept everything they said with a grain of salt. Especially after that one time when Simon told me about this gargoyle he charmed…”

They talked for hours.

Nicolas had never spoken so much in his life since he was a small child. The words came out easily. They end up flopped together on the bed. Apparently, Lucas had not had the wonderful privileged childhood as Nicolas thought because when the subject was broached, Lucas promptly pretended to be deaf and changed topics. Nicolas was particularly keen to talk about his own childhood either.

Lucas had some outrageous stories to tell. For someone barely in his mid-twenties, he had done so much in his short life. The sun had set behind the massive curtains and Nicolas could again hear Lucas’s stomach rumbling.

“Come on, you should have a shower before dinner,” Nicolas sighed. Lucas snorted and muttered something about wanting to be a clean snack before dashing back into the bathroom.

Lucas had gushed about the insanity of a shower that could clearly fit five people and spent nearly half an hour washing under the jets, moaning like the world’s cheapest whore. Nicolas suspected he had done this just to get a rise from him. He had in more ways than one…

Lucas had been more amused then distressed when he was given nothing but a pair of silk shorts to put on once he had finished cleaning up.

“You just love seeing me naked,” he quipped. Red faced, Nicolas refused to admit that the dancer did indeed have the kind of ass one could bounce a coin off of…

“How is our little pet?” Cassius deep voice reverberated a bit in the tiled bathroom. Both smaller men jumped. Thankfully and for probably the first time in history, Lucas kept his mouth shut.

“Clean.” Nicolas watched as his maker prowled into the room, red eyes glittering. He swept him in and pressed their mouths together. Nicolas let out a groan. Long fingers swept into his hair and angled his face up to a questing tongue and lethal canines. He shivered.

When his master pulled back, it was to turn his face toward Lucas who was watching them with his mouth partly open.

Lucas went still as those red eyes fixed on him. He had never been self-conscious about his body. Bloody hell, he taught burlesque! He had worn a lot less in front of a lot more people, much to his ladies' delight. Nothing in his ten years of dance performance had him prepared for the predatory rapturous gaze of the predator who looked as though he was stripping away Lucas’s flesh with his eyes.

“Well then, shall we dine?” Forgetting Nicolas’s warnings almost instantly, Lucas nodded.

“Definitely! I’m starving.”

The two vampires looked at him.

“I thought I was very well behaved today,” Lucas mumbled, looking over at Nicolas. Nicolas was caught between amusement, exasperation and annoyance. When his sire’s eyes travelled to him, he thought they looked contemplative.

“Has our pet kept you company love?” Cassius purred.

“He has.”

Cassius hummed thoughtfully. The taller man pulled something from his back pocket. It was a thin but unmistakable dog lead. Nicolas bit down an angry comment. Cassius clipped the end of it to Lucas’s collar. When Nicolas dared a look at the dancer’s face, the other boy only looked curious rather then angry.

Cassius led the boys from the bedroom, Lucas having to walk quickly as the vampire legs were far longer then his own. He tried not to get caught up in the scenery but it was difficult not too. The mansion was both impressive and ridiculous. Utterly over the top with marble, timber and huge ferns lining the hallway. He felt sorry for whoever had to keep the place clean.

The dining room was just as extravagant. The table was set for two and Lucas tried not to look disappointed by this. He really was hungry and he wasn’t to sure how long he was going to be able to go on stale cereal. He stumbled at a particularly hard yank on the lead.

“Sit,” Cassius ordered. Lucas reached for a chair slowly, already guessing what was about to happen.

“No pets at the table,” the vampire rumbled. He knew sighing would probably piss off Fangy Mc Fang Face, Lucas sat down elegantly on the floor instead.

And winced.

Marble floors were not comfortable. They were cold and hard and not at all fun, even for his luscious ass. The smell of food had Lucas looking down the end of the long table, his stomach cramping with hunger. A pair of legs, probably belonging to a waiter, strode into the room. The smell of food increased. Lucas couldn’t quite keep down the whimper.

“We need to keep him healthy,” Nicolas said, hoping to convince his sire to be something other than an asshole. He held that terrifying gaze, even as his stomach flipped. Cassius gave another thoughtful hum. He ripped a piece of chicken breast off his plate with his fingers. He held it down to Lucas. Nicolas swallowed nervously.

Once again, Lucas demonstrated a complete lack of self-dignity. Without hesitation, he reached up and took the chicken into his mouth. Nicolas watched with wide eyes as Cassius ran a broad thumb over the dancer’s lower lip.

“I suppose you are right love. If he is to feed you then we must keep him healthy,” Cassius purred. Lucas chewed, transfixed by the red eyes that bore down into his. He barely registered what he was eating. He had a very bad feeling about this. Then again, he wasn’t particularly good at listening to his own internal warnings. The vampire held out another piece of chicken and Lucas took delicately between his teeth.

The process of being fed was equal parts strange, sensual and oddly frightening. Even as he was fed more chicken, green beans and carrots, Cassius never stopped looking at him as though he might rip his tongue out. The mix messages were doing nothing for Lucas’s confused heated body and before long, he was shuffling around to find a better way to sit, his half hard cock rubbing against the silk shorts. Nicolas was struggling to eat his own food, his gaze fixed on his lover and his friends. He nearly dropped his fork when Cassius next spoke.

“I think…” he growled.

“We should move to the main course…”

\--

END

\--


	8. Dinner and a Show

\--

Chapter Eight

Dinner and a Show

\--

“I’ve never had a roast chicken as part of an entrée before,” Lucas quipped before Nicolas could defend him. Cassius wound the dog lead around his fist and tugged hard, forcing Lucas up on his knees. The hard marble did not make his balance any better.

“You seem to have a problem controlling yourself,” Cassius mused.

“Oddly, you aren’t the first to say that.” Cassius peered down at this bizarre human. He could smell the dancer’s fear but also his arousal. Privately, he had wondered if he would be able to allow his mate to be with this little creature but it was becoming clear that the arousal came not when the boy was with Nicolas but when he was at Cassius’s feet.

This is was a strange reaction that the master vampire was at a loss for what to do. This little witch wanted him.

“Get up on the table,” he growled. He watched with interest as the boy’s pupils contracted. He gave the lead enough slack for their new pet to climb up onto the table. No hesitation, no pleading.

“Come here love,” he ordered. Nicolas hesitated for a moment before sliding his chair back and getting up. He came around the table wearily and stopped a little way away. This dynamic for the trio was still raw and new. Nicolas didn’t trust him to keep his word, didn’t rust Lucas not to provoke him. Cassius wasn’t sure himself yet.

“Sit back on your knees and put your hands behind your head. Don’t remove them,” Cassius ordered, fixing glowing eyes on the witch. Lucas gulp and shuffled into position, his rather unhelpful cock already half hard. He knew he should keep his mouth shut. Sometimes he just couldn’t help himself.

“If you take this collar off, I can show you a magic trick. Then you can have dinner and a show.” Lucas suggested sweetly. Cassius reached out a clawed hand and took a painfully strong grip of the young man’s cock. The dancer yelped but managed to keep his hands behind his head.

“That collar doesn’t need to come off in order for us to enjoy a show from you.”

“Kinky?” Lucas squeaked. Nicolas pinched his brow.

“Lucas, seriously. Shut the fuck up,” Nicolas hissed. The friendship between the two was odd to witness. It was clear that Lucas pushed all of Nicolas’s buttons but his brashness, his sassiness and his bratty behaviour seemed to endear the vampire.

“Come closer love,” Cassius ordered. Nicolas crept forward until he was right next to them.

Cassius loosened his grip and began to stroke the trapped cock. Lucas shivered; his eyes wide. The stroking was dry, skin tugging and Lucas winced. Cassius removed his hand and held it under Lucas’s chin.

“Spit.” For once, the little witch didn’t argue. He spat into the man’s palm a few times. He let out a loud choked gasp when Cassius took hold of his cock again, hand slick with cooling saliva. A full body shiver went through him.

Lucas whimpered. This was definitely one of the kinkiest things he had ever done and not just because the vampire in front of him was threatening to kill him if he misbehaved. The room seemed oddly airless as he struggled to draw it in.

“Doesn’t he smell lovely?” Cassius smirked. Nicolas swallowed hard, throat clicking and dry. Yes Lucas, did smell good. He smelt intoxicating. He looked intoxicating as well. His cheeks and chest were flushed. The smell of his sweat and want coated the roof of Nicolas’s mouth.

“Do you not want to taste him? You’ve never had witch blood before. It is one of this world’s best vintages.” Lucas was about to retort with something he thought was witty when a rough thumb ran over the head of his cock. His hips jerked and he gasped.

Nicolas hesitated, worry on his face. He didn’t want to hurt Lucas. He had always been fairly good at controlling his blood lust but he had never wanted someone the way he wanted Lucas now. Cassius’s expression was darkening like thick storm clouds. If Nicolas didn’t obey, Cassius would take the decision away from him. His master had never appreciated his hesitation when it came to feeding.

“It’s okay,” Lucas whispered, surprising them both. Nicolas looked up at Lucas. The other face was relaxed, eyes a little glassy, wet lips parted. Hesitantly, Nicolas reached out a hand and stroked his fingers down Luca’s exposed thigh. Lucas groaned, eyes sliding shut.

“It’s okay,” the dancer breathed again. Nicolas stared hungrily. His canines and gums were aching. Cassius moved to one side, still stroking the cock that was now steadily leaking precum onto the table top in small drops. Lucas was twitching and moaning, thighs trembling and pulse jumping hard against his throat. Fuck it.

Lucas yelped as Nicolas suddenly leapt up onto the table next to him. A hand wound into his hair and puled his head back. Nicolas knocked Cassius’s hand aside as he took Lucas’s warm cock in hand and stroked fast. Lucas had half a second to cry out in pleasure before sharp teeth sliced into the side of his neck, shocking him. Most humans cried out in pain. Being bitten hard enough to rend flesh was painful after all. What the two vampires learnt in those next few moment made them both very happy.

Far from trying to pull away, Lucas shoved himself up into Nicolas’s teeth. The cock bucked hard and his balls drew up tight. Apparently, Lucas enjoyed pain. As Nicolas took in his first mouthful, the witch beneath him spasmed and came. Cassius had been right.

It was not just the flavour of the blood but also the quality. He could taste the raw magic that flowed through Lucas’s body. He had never experienced anything like it since first death. His shuddered against the human, his own heart thumping with an intensity he couldn’t recall ever feeling. His fingers and scalp tingled.

It was like walking out into the night, a storm just breaking. The electricity, the anticipation and wildness of it called to him. It seeped into his bones, infused his lungs. Nicolas snarled into the bite. He never wanted to let this feeling go, never wanted to let Lucas go. As his own cock began to throb inside his trousers, the only thing that could possibly have made this more perfect was to pin the still twitching human down and fuck him hard.

His hand was still moving over the cock. Lucas was whimpering, hypersensitive. He still made no move to try and push Nicolas away by it was clear by the glazed look sweeping his face and pale complexion that he wouldn’t be conscious much longer. Cassius placed a hand on Nicolas’s shoulder. His fledging hesitated and then pulled away. His chin was bloody.

The little witch had passed out and Cassius could see the struggle in his mate’s face. The urge to feed, to fuck, to make the kill. It was a glorious sight. He waited until Nicolas had a little more control over his facilities.

“Come love, let’s get our little pet to bed. Then I can take care of you properly,” Cassius purred.

\--

Nicolas looked up at the dance studio with growing anxiety. He hadn’t told Cassius where he was going. He had to say something though or questions would be asked and people would come looking for Lucas. Taking a deep breathe, he turned the handle and let himself in.

Class had finished for the night but several people were still lingering to gossip, stretch or go over some of the more complicated motions. A few people greeted him. No one had ever bothered to talk to him until Lucas. Lucas had made he warmer, more friendly. Guilt, it seemed, it was to be a heavy companion.

He made his way towards the offices where he knew Alice would still be working. Her office door was ajar. He knocked.

“Come in,” called a stern voice. Taking a deep breathe, he stepped inside. Alice looked up, her hawk like gaze narrowing.

“I suppose you are here to explain where you have been the last two days or perhaps to explain where Lucas has been for the last two days?” she barked, missing absolutely nothing. Flushing hot and already on the back-foot Nicolas cleared his throat. It was insane how such a lean petite young woman could so closely resemble a velociraptor.

“I am sorry for not attending class. There was a good reason-”

“You know we have a strict policy for missing classes. You do understand that we only allow for so many unexplained absences before we have you replaced? It’s to close to the performance,” she said sternly. Nicolas shifted from one foot to the other.

“I do. I’ve been with Lucas, he’s not well,” he stammered.

“And you can tell him to turn on his phone, get off his wasted ass and come to class,” Alice snapped. She didn’t bother looking up from her work. Nicolas bit his lip.

“He’s not wasted. He’s… in the hospital.” Alice stopped writing. Her head snapped up.

“What?”

“He urgh… collapsed the other day. They took him in for some tests,” Nicolas invented, praying she wouldn’t ask which hospital or he would be very screwed. Her usual stoic and stern mask cracked as met his eyes.

“Does he… have any family we could contact?” he asked. Her lips thinned as an expression akin to pity crossed her face.

“No. No family. I believe his mother is still alive but I have no idea what her name is or even how to contact her. I used to pester him about it all the time as having an emergency contact is part of out contract. He gave me a phone number once. Turned out to be the information hotline for Disney world,” she said drily. Nicolas felt himself smile weakly.

“That sounds about right,” he said.

“I’m going back this afternoon to see him,” he added. Alice nodded.

“Alright. Please keep me informed and wish him the best from me. It will be difficult finding someone to replace him at such short notice,” she sighed. Feeling like the worst person in the world, Nicolas nodded.

“I will. He’s lucky to have you all.”

The journey to the dance studio had not been fun in anyway. He felt incredibly guilty. He had locked himself away from the rest of the world for so long that he had almost forgotten what this guilt felt like. He hated it, hated feeling this way. If he felt bad now, it was going to get worse when he got home…

\--

“You told them he was in the hospital?” Cassius hissed.

“What was I supposed to say!?” Nicolas yelled, throwing his hands up.

“He’s not some homeless nobody, he’s a teacher at a very popular and large dance studio. He’s one of their best dancers and they perform an international competition level! Of course, people noticed when he didn’t show up for class.”

“You think I’m one of the best dancers?” Lucas cooed whilst fluttering his lashes. Nicolas shot him a nasty look.

“Did you give them the name of a hospital?” Cassius growled. Nicolas turned that scathing look onto his mentor.

“Of course not, I’m not a complete moron,” he barked back. Both vampires eyed each other aggressively.

“Umm, if you let me have a phone I could call and pretend I’ve been moved to a private facility or something,” Lucas suggested awkwardly. His jaw clicked shut when two pairs of glowing eyes fell on him.

“Just a thought,” he chirped.

“We’re not going to give you a phone,” Nicolas said flatly.

“Why not? It’s not like you couldn’t snatch it away the moment you though I would say something dodgy. Besides, you both know where I live. What’s the harm in letting me go home? I’m more than happy to come back,” Lucas said in what he clearly thought was his most seductive voice.

“You’re staying here,” Cassius growled. He picked up his goblet of grossness to take a sip. Lucas pouted.

“Someone needs to water the plants in my apartment!” he trilled. Nicholas rubbed at the bridge of his nose.

“You don’t own any plants,” the vampire said flatly. Lucas feigned a hurt expression.

“I do so. They’re growing out of the pizza I left on the counter from three weeks ago,” he said innocently. Somewhere behind him Nicholas could have sworn he heard Cassius choke into his goblet.

“Would you take this seriously!?” Nicholas hissed. Lucas blinked up at him.

“Well I could but then there would be a lot more screaming and that just bad for the ears.” Nicolas stared at the human in utter disbelief.

“You’re unreal,” he spluttered. Lucas smirked.

“Why thank you. I’d say you are to but you haven’t fucked me yet so it would be rude to pre-judge.”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Nicolas hissed.

“Is he a vampire to?”

“We need to gag him,” Nicolas barked. Lucas was grinning so widely his cheek bones hurt. It was obvious that neither vampire had ever dealt with anyone quite as eccentric as him before and they were relatively unsure of how to handle him. He was rather enjoying himself.

“You know, if you did fuck me it probably help drain the tension. Like literally drain the-” Nicolas grabbed a wad of napkins from the table and shoved them into Luca’s talking mouth. The dancer could have spat them out, but he just sat, looking smug and very amused with his stockpile of napkins. Nicolas turned to back to his sire who was watched them with an expression that could have amusement or confusion… or panic.

“Do you understand now what you have gotten us into?” Nicolas rumbled. Lucas tipped his head to one side like a curious puppy. Cassius put down his goblet and came towards them. Cassius raised a clawed hand to Lucas’s face and Lucas, like the dumbass he was, propped his chin into that hand and fluttered his eyelashes again.

Weird human. Utterly weird, probably mentally damaged human.

“I’m beginning to see your point,” Cassius mused.

“It just means we will need to be very strict with our rules. Even the dumbest animals can learn the basics.” Lucas’s eye fluttering stopped immediately and he glared up at the vampire.

“Love, why don’t you go into the playroom and bring me my black box.” Lucas snorted. Of course, the scary vampire had a playroom. Hell, judging by the size of this place, he probably had three. Or seven. One for every day of the week. What made him slightly worried was when Nicolas nodded.

“You know what? That a great idea. I’ll be right back,” he said, eyes narrowed on Lucas. Lucas tried to look innocent then decide he would probably look a little less ridiculous if he spat out the napkins.

“So, what are we playing with? Cockring? Paddles? Oh, is the puppy play thing literal?” he asked politely. Cassius grabbed a fistful of his hair and wrenched his head back hard.

“You’ll just have to find out.”

For once, Lucas went didn’t comment.

\--

END

\--


	9. Learning Lessons

\--

Chapter Nine

Learning Lessons

\--

Lucas could hear the thudding of his heart against his ribcage. With Nicolas gone, it was just him and Count Evil himself. He should keep his mouth shut. Unfortunately, he got chatty when he was nervous.

"So... lived in town long?" he asked. The red eyes flicked down to him, but the man said nothing.

"This is a really nice house, like super nice..." he drawled on. Cassius raised an eyebrow.

"Are all old vampires rich? That's a weird stereotype I've always been curious about. Like if a vampire is over a hundred years old, people think they would have a lot of money, but I mean if you're really shit with handling money then you're probably always going to be shit at it, you know?" Cassius stared down at the witch, lips twitching. The lead in the man's fist creaked faintly. Lucas blinked, a sensation of foreboding creeping up his body.

"Umm... you look very nice in leather?" he added hopefully.

"Here," the sound of Nicolas's voice made him jump. The smaller vampire was back. He handed a bundle of straps to Cassius. Lucas recognised the little red rubber ball. It's not as though he wasn't expecting it with all the threatening Nicolas had done. When Cassius held up the ball gag, he looked mildly surprised when Lucas just leaned forward and opened his mouth obediently. The gag was tight but not to uncomfortable. He ducked his head down so the buckles could be done up.

A hand slithered into his hair, rubbing against his scalp. Lucas melted a little, letting out a long sigh. Unfortunately, the peace was short lived as something metal, cold as ice and sharp as fuck clamped onto one of his nipples.

Lucas yelped, jumping. A black box was sitting on the table they had been seated at. The lid was open, and Cassius was extracting another alligator nipple clamp from its depths. Lucas tried to say something about warning a guy next time, but the words came out slurred and incoherent. The second nipple clamp was just as painful as the first. He yelped again. Nicolas rubbed his back soothingly.

"Shh, we are going to teach you some manners," the other dancer said, his voice slightly mocking. Lucas tipped his head back to glare up at the blonde when clawed fingers coiled around his throat.

"I want to know how much he can take..." Cassius growled. Lucas was made to stare up into the red eyes and fuck if his cock didn't almost immediately harden. That's it, Lucas decided. His brain was broken. Had to be.

"He really does seem to like you," Nicolas muttered. His tone was somewhere between amazement, amusement and jealousy.

Lucas rolled his eyes and then focused them on Nicolas. I like you both, he seemed to be saying. Slowly, hesitantly, Nicolas knelt down and leaned in. The touch was almost shy as his lips found the corner on Lucas’s mouth. Unable to really reciprocate, Lucas rubbed his cheek along the dancer’s like a cat, humming.

“Just try to be good,” Nicolas whispered. There was real desperation in his tone. To his relief, Lucas pulled back and gave a little nod. Nicolas glanced up at his sir.

“We aren’t really going to hurt him,” he said in a questioning tone.

“Nothing that would be permanent so long as he behaves,” Cassius purred. Lucas gulped. The next thing to come from the box was a set of leather and chain cuffs. Nicolas gently arranged Lucas’s hands behind his back. Once again, the witch neither protested nor struggled. The last piece to come out made Lucas particularly nervous. It was a cock strap. He shifted, wincing as Cassius fixed it tightly in place around his sensitive cock and balls. It was definitely snug.

“Well then, little witch. Are you ready to learn?” Cassius murmured, walking his steel capped boots into Lucas line of sight. If he had been able, he would have said ‘super ready!’ instead he just winked. Cassius snorted. Lucas lost a little of his smugness at the sight of the next object which turned out to be a flogger. It looked ordinary but Lucas knew the man could do real damage to him with or without supernatural strength.

The first brush of the leather made him jump and shiver. He didn’t pull away though, just settled himself straighter on his knees.

“Very well then…” The hits started light, teasing, a wash of biting kisses to his exposed back, shoulders and chest. Nicolas watched in silent awe as Lucas flexed into the hits rather then away. He could smell the human’s excited, see the flushed skin and felt his own cock harden. Nicolas had never been one much for pain. He privately enjoyed Cassius’s control, but he had never sought out pain the way Lucas seemed to. He found he loved watching Lucas’s reactions. Every little gasp, flinch or moan.

Nicolas licked his dry lips as he distantly wondered if this could somehow work. If, maybe, Lucas could act as the bridge between Nicolas and his overbearing sire if only Nicolas could convince Cassius to see it that way.

Lucas yelped at a particularly hard hit. His skin was getting hot and red. The swats stung and the pain went deeper, held longer. He stared lustfully up at Nicolas because despite the obvious erection, Nicolas still looked worried. Cassius prowled about, laying down strikes with impressive accuracy. When one tassel landed on his clipped nipple he yelled into the gag. The pain was sharp and instant. He still didn’t try to get away though, not even when the next lash found his other nipple. By the fourth hit Lucas was starting to whine, back hunching.

“Cassius, maybe we should move on?” Nicolas asked nervously. To his surprise, his sir gave a nod. Instantly, Nicolas dove down and unclipped the nipple clamps. Lucas wailed as the blood returned to the tortured nubs. Nicolas unbuckled the gag and eased it from Lucas’s mouth.

“Are you okay?” Nicolas whispered.

“That was spicy. What’s next?” Lucas quipped. He was trying not to laugh at Nicolas’s outraged expression.

"Why do I bother?" Nicolas growled.

"Because you love me?" Lucas cooed, grinning up at him. Nicolas looked over at his mate.

"Suggestions?" the dancer growled. Cassius looked taken aback. Perhaps he had never seen this side of Nicolas or maybe it just been a very long time. A slow wide manic grinned spread across the old vampire's face.

"I do,"

"Umm..." Lucas said, watching as Cassius walked over to a cabinet. He turned an old key. The sound of it scrapping in the lock was oddly magnified in the large room. Nicolas watched nervously as the man extracted a bottle of red wine. He frowned.

"Are we having a dri-" he was cut off abruptly as Nicolas fisted his hair and wrenched him forward. He landed face first on the tile floor, Nicolas's tight grip the only thing preventing a would-be concussion as his hands were still cuffed behind his back.

"Ass up pet," Nicolas purred in an uncharacteristic tone. Lucas shuddered, his cock twitching. Curiosity getting the better of him, Lucas did as he was told, shuffling on his knees properly and pushing his ass up.

"It's odd, he can follow every instruction but the one to keep his mouth shut," Nicolas sighed.

"He'll learn," Cassius purred. Lucas gasped as a wet lubed finger traced over his exposed hole. The touch was unhurried, rubbing in slow circles, pushing in and then pulling out in slow motions. He hummed in pleasure, shoulders sagging a little.

"That's it, nice and relaxed," Nicolas said, wiggling his index finger through the tight ring of muscle. Lucas heard the seal of the wine bottle cracking open and whimpered. He knew what was coming next. He had never done this before, but he was all for trying. His body felt hot. He really wanted a hand on his cock.

The cold glass of the bottle touched his hole and he shuddered violently. The lip of the bottle was wiggled carefully, the head slipped into Lucas's ass as the wine bottle was tipped up.

"Oh my god," Lucas whimpered as the lubricated neck of the cold bottle was forced slowly inside him. Fingers and toes tingled as a series of little whimpers escaped his throat.

"Shh," Nicolas let go of his hair and moved down to rub a hand over his trembling belly. Cassius knelt beside them to watched. Lucas could see the outline of a large cock against the fabric of his leather trousers. His mouth went dry as he realized the master vampire had piercings. His ass clenched around the neck of the wine bottle as he wondered just what it would feel like to be fucked with by the vampire.

Lucas struggled not to squirm as the cold liquid seeped into his bowls. He pressed his cheek harder against the cool tile, his ass feeling stuffed and hypersensitive. There was nothing he could do to brace against the flood alcohol that was seeping into his system. The room swayed a little.

"I want to taste him. Will you let me?" Nicolas asked. He sounded breathless. Cassius grabbed hold of his mate's chin.

"You may, but he doesn't cum, and I'll take your ass when you do," he growled.

"Please," Lucas whimpered.

He wouldn't be allowed to cum. After all this!?

Nicolas hummed thoughtfully. He pressed a kiss to Cassius's palm. His sire's eyes were glowing with interest. He turned his attention back to their captive. Lucas looked so incredible. Skin glistening with sweat, ass cheeks red and back curved beautifully, he was a sight to be seen.

"What have you learnt pet?" Nicolas asked, rubbing Lucas's now bulging belly. It took a few goes to get his sluggish tongue to form the right vowels.

"To only speak when asked a question," he slurred.

"Good boy. Do you know why your being punished?"

"I talk too much."

"That's right and from now on, when we tell you to shut up..." Lucas cried out as the bottle was yanked free. Something silicon and large was worked into him. The plug was thick, sending deliciously painful twinges through him as his ass was forced open to accept it. It popped inside, preventing any of the wine from leaking out. Lucas was rolled on his back. He shouted as a hand gripped his aching cock.

"You will shut up." Nicolas hissed. Cassius forced the ball gag back between Lucas's teeth as Nicolas leant forward and swallowed him down to the root. Lucas's eyes rolled back in his head, body convulsing. It was too much. The sound that came out of his throat was somewhere between a yell and wail. His nipples ached. His balls and guts were so full. It was too much pleasure, too much everything.

He begged wordlessly around the gag, his sounds becoming desperate as Nicolas groaned around the flesh in his mouth. Cassius was behind his mate, pants pushed down his hips. From the way Nicolas moved, Lucas was sure that Cassius was fucking the man hard. The sounds and smell of sex filled the room, driving Lucas crazy.

His ass flexed around the plug. The room was swaying, and he couldn’t keep his eyes closed. He was biting down so hard on the gag his jaw was starting to ache. There was a dangerous graze of sharp fangs along his swollen cock. Lucas rocked his hips, fists clenched and muscles straining against the leather cuffs. So close, he was so close. His insides were starting to cramp. If Nicolas would loosen the cock strap, just a little…

Nicolas pulled off him with a shout. Lucas’s eyes flew open and he stared in envious awe as Nicolas convulsed violently, fingers clutching Lucas’s hips hard as he orgasmed. Lucas felt the hot liquid splash across his legs and groin. Cassius growled, showing long lethal teeth as he shuddered to a stop inside his lover.

Lucas was still whimpering, still begging. His cock was impossibly red, the tip still able to leak fluid despite the painful tightness of the cock strap. He felt if something didn’t give soon his cock would explode. Under the desperation was an underlying growing panic. What if they left him like this? This wasn’t some kink club where he could shout a safe word or tap out a rhythm that would get him untied.

Just as his sounds were starting to turn really pathetic, Cassius loomed over him. Lucas looked out at him, mouth stuffed and eyes full of tears. He choked on his own saliva as Cassius wrapped a hand around his sensitive cock. He nearly sobbed as the vampire began to ease the cock strap off.

His body tensed, thrown violently over the edge with little more then a few strokes of the man’s hand. He may have blacked out, the world coming down to meet him in an explosion of stars and heat. He really into the gag, his throat sore but his brain to gone to notice or care. Toes curling, muscles shaking, Lucas was sent through the best orgasm of his short life.

There were words spoken. His arms tingled with pins and needles as the cuffs were removed. The gag was eased from his mouth. It took a bit because he couldn’t get his jaw to unlock its clenched grip on the rubber.

Lucas was half unconscious as he was carried into the world’s most unnecessarily excessive bathroom. It was probably meant for like ten people though Lucas’s addled brain couldn’t really understand why. He should have been embarrassed as the plug was removed. His stomach gurgled as he was placed on toilet. The humiliation or embarrassment never came though. Probably because he was more then a little drunk, sated and very tired. That and he had next to no shame to begin with.

He leant forward, his head resting against Nicolas’s lean belly. He was grateful the man wasn’t cringing away as the wine finally escaped him into the toilet bowl because if he had moved, Lucas would have just fallen face first onto the tiled floor. That would have made a really big mess.

Nicolas was saying something, murmuring to him as he ran his fingers through his hair. Lucas hummed, not really able to process human speech but quite comfy where he was. When his bowls were finally empty, someone grabbed him by the arm and ushered him into the shower which could have been used for an elephant. Maybe that was why the bathroom was so big… the previous owners had a pet elephant. He giggled.

The floor seemed extremely slippery. He kept sliding this way and that as soapy hands washed away the evidence of their fun. Then out from under the hot water and stumbled into thick fluffy towels. Lucas was having trouble putting one foot in front of the other. His keepers must have grown impatient because he was swept off his feet into someone’s arms.

“You smell amazing…” Lucas slurred to the mass that was carrying him down the hallway.

Nicolas followed Cassius as his sir took the witch into their main bedroom. Cassius dumped Lucas on the bed. The witch bounced, still giggling, apparently utterly shit faced.

“I like you,” Lucas said, pointing a wavering finger up at Cassius.

“Except when you’re an asshole to Nicky but your reeaaallly fine to look at…” he slurred. Nicolas sighed and knelt down on the massive king bed.

“Go to sleep Lucas,” Nicolas grumbled affectionately. Lucas stretched out like a satisfied cat, lean muscles and skin on display.

"Can we have Korean barbecue tomorrow night? Or like those little duck spring rolls from that place on Lowrie Street? Or Lasagna. I love Lasagna," he chirped sleepily. The two vampires stared down at him in silent disbelief.

"Cassius, he's different. You have to see that, right?" Nicolas whispered. Cassius looked from the drowsy witch to his mate.

"That is... accurate," Cassius decided. Lucas’s eyes were drifting shut, lips relaxed in soft silly smile.

"Can't we just let him go?" Red eyes fixed on Nicolas and he swallowed hard at the intense look.

"He wants to be here and I... I want him to stay. If you want to punish me then wouldn't sending him away still get what you want?" he asked in a hollow voice. His master gave him a strange look.

"You want him to stay?" Nicolas nodded very slowly.

"Yes," he breathed.

"Then we will keep him. Who knows? Perhaps he will help us with our other little problem," Cassius mused.

"He would. I know he would," Nicolas said a little desperately.

"We shall see."

\--

END

\--


End file.
